Alan Stevenson was duly appointed as the engineer for the project aged only 30. He designed a tower high with a base of , narrowing to just at the lantern gallery. The lowest sections would be solid, although at  feet high they were less than half the height of the base of the later light at nearby Dubh Artach. Nonetheless the structure would weigh and the volume of the base would be more than 4 times larger than the entire structure of the Eddystone light and twice that of the Bell Rock. With 151 steps to the top it would be the tallest and heaviest lighthouse yet built anywhere in the modern world, and today it is still one of the tallest lighthouse in the United Kingdom.