Beckett Rankine is currently designing new pontoon berths for wind farm service vessels as part of E.ON’s ongoing development of a purpose-built base on the North Quay at Grimsby Fish Dock. The base will be used for maintenance support throughout the life of their 73-turbine 219MW Humber Gateway offshore wind farm which is due to be completed in 2015.

As part of the project we need to assess the structural capacity of the North Quay as two new loading cranes are to be mounted on it. Searching his archive for details of the quay’s construction our client discovered the original 1932 engineering drawings. We were delighted to see that the quay was designed by our illustrious forebear, Sir John Wolfe Barry.

Sir John was one of the most eminent engineers of his generation, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1896 he was instrumental in the establishment of industry standards and the formation of the body that became the British Standards Institute. His firm, John Wolfe Barry and Partners amalgamated with Robert White and Partners in 1941 to become Wolfe Barry, Robert White and Partners. In 1945 with Robert’s son Sir Bruce White (Gordon Rankine’s grandfather) now as senior partner the firm was renamed Sir Bruce White Wolfe Barry & Partners.

In 1949 Tim Beckett’s father, Allan Beckett, was made a partner in the practice, having worked with Sir Bruce on the design and assembly of the Mulberry harbours during World War II

Sir John Wolfe Barry was also responsible for the design of Immingham Dock, 6 miles upstream from Grimsby. With a total wet dock area of 45 acres, the dock was formally opened by King George V on 22 July 1912.

The photograph on the left shows Grimsby’s iconic water tower close to the entrance where new berths are being installed for the offshore wind farm support vessels.