Prime Minister David Cameron has visited two Beckett Rankine projects in one day – the London Array in Ramsgate and the Battersea Power Station redevelopment site in London.
Mr Cameron inaugurated the London Array, the world’s largest operational wind farm which he described as a “fantastic world first”. The £2.2bn project can now supply enough green electricity to power half a million homes and businesses, with 175 Siemens turbines generating 507MW of energy.
Beckett Rankine designed three separate crew transfer mooring facilities for London Array, using our innovative ‘Dockmaster’ pontoon system. The pontoons cater for up to ten catamaran transfer vessels used to ferry crew members from the wind farm’s operational service base in Ramsgate harbour to the wind farm itself, some 20 kilometres off shore.
The Prime Minister congratulated everyone who had been involved in the scheme, which he said was “great for Kent and great for Britain”.
Next stop was central London, where he performed the ground-breaking ceremony for Phase 1 of the vast 39-acre Battersea Power Station redevelopment with the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Our unparalleled knowledge and experience of the River Thames means that we have been asked to be involved in various stages of this project over several years.This eagerly anticipated new development will see this former industrial site become home to a vibrant new neighbourhood, with the creation of 3,500 new homes, shops, cafés, restaurants and offices, set amidst a new 6 acre riverside park and with the fully restored Grade II* listed Power Station at its heart and open to the public – eighty years after it first generated electricity and thirty years since it was decommissioned.
Most recently we have worked alongside UrS on the delivery of the proposed jetty and passenger pontoon design for the new ferry service terminal at the site. We were asked to create a conceptual design for the new marine facilities suitable for planning submission as well as a review of the new proposals and the existing maritime data. We also scoped and procured the necessary marine assessments for on-going consultations with the PLA and EA and assessed the navigational impacts of the new facilities on existing uses of the river.
London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was also present at the ceremony, said: “Many thought it would never happen but today is a triumphant moment in Battersea Power Station’s rebirth as well as a glowing testimony to London’s attractiveness for global investors”.
The Prime Minister’s recognition of the significance of these two world class, ground-breaking projects supports Beckett Rankine’s position as a leader in marine innovation and design.
