Major plans to improve a lifeboat station on the Norfolk coast are about to be sent into the council which will have the ultimate decision on approving the scheme.
The team at the Hemsby Lifeboat Station hope to be able to submit their extension and refurbishment blueprints to Great Yarmouth Borough Council next month.
The eye-catching two-storey building is part of an overall scheme, which could cost up to £350,000, to get a new lifeboat, trailer and tractor.
The lifeboat station launched an appeal in April 2015 to raise £200,000 for the extension and improvements plans, but costs have risen as part of a design process, which has seen revised draft plans for the station drawn up with the two-storey element being added on.
As well as improving working conditions for the volunteer independent lifeboat crew, the station will become a community hub by offering water safety training and education for local schools and businesses.
Gerard Roadley-Battin, second coxswain, said the funding could be completed within two years and the need for the refurbishment was to upgrade its inshore lifeboat and launching vehicle to meet the demanding safety regulations facing the service.
He also added the design of the building was also shaped by the psyche of people's expectations of what a lifeboat station should look like.
Mr Roadley-Battin said: 'It is important to have a design that reflects what people see in a traditional lifeboat station. It has to have that essence.
'Preliminary planning is already advanced with the architects and we hope to go to planning by March.
'The crew and friends of the lifeboat station are fundraising at every given moment, hoping that we will be able to fund the £350,000 project within two years.'
The preparations to submit planning documents comes as a fundraising page was set up by Jolene Towne, from Winterton and who visited the station at the weekend.
She works for Consortium Underwater Engineers in Hall Road in Hemsby and has set the target of raising £50,000 for the station. The appeal is also being supported by Charlotte Marsters, a sports injury masseuse from Stalham.
To make a donation for the lifeboat station work visit www.gofundme.com/hemsby-lifeboat-station
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