On 30th April, Gordon Rankine represented Beckett Rankine at the Handover Ceremony at Dong Energy’s new marine Operations & Maintenance base at Barrow-in-Furness.

The state-of-the-art Operations & Maintenance facility will act as the base for engineers working on the project for at least the next 25 years, and includes a helicopter base, office facilities and a warehouse as well as Beckett Rankine designed service vessel pontoons. DONG Energy will operate the wind farm on behalf of the joint venture between themselves and Scottish Power Renewables.

Acting as Marine Consultants for owners Dong Energy, Beckett Rankine has been heavily involved with the provision of these new facilities for several years and was responsible for advising on the design of all the marine structures including the pontoons, pontoon moorings, brows and brow support structures.

The berths have been designed using similar specifications as those already constructed and operating close to the new Walney O&M building. However, because the wave climate is more severe at this location than for the other nearby pontoons, a correspondingly more robust design has been adopted for the mooring arrangements and the freedom of movement for the pontoons themselves.

BR also advised on the tender process for construction of the facilities and inspected progress of the works on site.

Beckett Rankine is proud to have been part of the successful design and management of this forward looking renewable energy project.