Leading building and civil engineering company Farrans Construction has developed an extensive portfolio in this field, delivering many of the largest projects across the UK and Ireland including the Ā£51.5m D1 Project at Belfast Harbour, the UKās first purpose built offshore wind logistics facility, and a deep water berth for Montrose Port Authority.
With operations across the UK and Ireland and employing over 500 people, Farrans has significant experience of working on projects of all sizes across a wide range of sectors. The civil engineering division of Farrans operates in five key sectors of Roads and Bridges, Water, Marine, Renewables and Horizon.
Farransā experience in the Marine sector has been a supporting factor in a number of its recently secured Roads and Bridges projects, including the high-profile New Wear Crossing, Gull Wing bridge in Suffolk and Great Yarmouthās Third River Crossing.
In this issue we will focus on the Marine sector projects which Farrans is either currently on site for or has recently completed.
Global Energy NIGG – East Quay Development
The East Quay development for Global Energy in Scotland will provide new wet berths with heavy-duty quays to serve the marine renewable energy market as well as the North Sea oil and gas market. The works consist of the construction of a finger quay projecting from the existing quay wall, protection to the existing quay wall to prevent any adverse effects during adjacent dredging works and dredging to the required depths.
Farrans has designed the whole of the quay, the dredging and the infill to the quay structures. The company is constructing the infill and the fixed structures of the quay, this includes all of the quay furniture and fittings which are cast into or permanently welded to the quay structure, and all the cast in fixings.
The scope of works consists of surveys, studies, design, procurement, construction and handover of all elements of the works.
The East Quay will be used by vessels engaged in the off-shore energy and North Sea oil and gas sectors. It will be used as a heavy lift area for the storage and for the load out of elements required for energy production in the marine environment ā both for marine renewables and for North Sea oil and gas. The quay is operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Twelve Quays
In conjunction with Peel Ports and Stena Line at Twelve Quays terminal in Birkenhead, Farrans has recently completed a Ā£17m port modernisation project designed to help grow the regionās import and export capabilities.
The project saw the dock expanded to service next-generation RoRo (Roll-on/Roll-off) ferry vessels by investing in best-in-class facilities to reduce turnaround times, increase route capacity and improve health and safety by implementing one way traffic.
The terminal became fully operational in January 2020, welcoming Stena Lineās new fleet of E-Flexer ships which utilises the Belfast-Liverpool route following a multimillion pound investment into the region as part of a 25-year commitment.
Stenaās new E-Flexer ships are larger than standard RoPax vessels and provide freight capacity of 3,100 lane meters and the space to carry 120 cars and 1,000 passengers and crew. They are also highly fuel efficient to reduce emissions, feeding in to Peel Portsā goal of providing sustainable ports for the future.
Work carried out by Peel Ports includes a new multi-level berth to accommodate double-deck, simultaneous vehicle access to and from vessels as well as bigger berthing facilities for importers and exporters to take advantage of the portās connectivity.
The works included:
- the installation of 26 piles, including a new berthing pile and a new mooring pile, ranging in size from 1.2m to 2.4m diameter;
- a two-lane fixed approach bridge with a bankseat at the eastern end;
- installation of precast bridge beams and in situ concrete roadway on the fixed bridge
- addition of an upper deck to the existing pontoon with a hydraulic ramp that can lower onto the new vesselās upper unloading deck, along with various modifications to the existing pontoon to provide clearance for the new vesselās unloading deck ramp, including repositioning of stop fenders and amendments to the lower deck ramp;
- a canting linkspan transitioning between the fixed bridge and pontoon, allowing for movements resulting from tidal variation;
- diversion of access walkways to provide access to the new mooring pile; and
- installation of new walkways.
- upgrade of cathodic protection on existing structures & installation on new structures, involving both anode installation & an impressed current system.
Galloper Off-Shore Windfarm
Farrans Construction was awarded the contract for the fabrication and installation of six pontoons for Galloper Offshore Wind Farm, which is run from a state-of-the-art purpose-built facility at Harwich International Port. Work on the new facility took around 12 months in total with activity progressing to schedule and completion in early 2020.
Off-site fabrication of the pontoons commenced in December 2018 in Newcastle by A&P. Farrans made a number of design modifications at the outset of the project to source specialised manufactured components and deliver a bespoke product for the client.
The pontoons consisted of six individual units that were hinged together and they were shipped to site at the end of August 2019. The total weight of the fabricated steel to form the pontoons was 263 tonnes. Each one had a screen on one side and also had all service containment built into the structure including a potable water supply, fuel supply, lighting and CCTV.
A&P fabricated six 20m x 6m pontoons using the on-site panel line for sub-assembled units, which helped to ensure the efficient and high-quality fabrication of large stiffened panels up to 13.5m wide and 20m long. Five of the pontoons were identical, whilst the sixth brow pontoon was of a slightly different design and construction.
On-shore civil engineering works for the structural supports completed in June 2019. Farrans marine works commenced in August 2019 and completed in five weeks, three weeks ahead of completion. The pontoons are now providing safe, accessible berths for crew transfer vessels ensuring the successful operation of the Galloper Wind Farm.
For more information on Farransā experience in the Marine sector please visit www.farrans.com
