The marine partner of choice, Red7Marine, is celebrating the completion of another successful project, this time at Galloper Wind Farm off the coast of Suffolk. The company, which is based in Ipswich, was subcontracted by one of the UK’s leading civil engineering companies, Farrans Construction, to complete the work as a result of its expansive expertise and close proximity to the project site.
Red7Marine started work on-site in late July of this year and all work was completed in early September. The scope of work included undertaking the engineering and marine installation for the new Galloper pontoon facility. Red7Marine provided specialist expertise including various marine elements such as driven piles, an intermediate landing platform and load out and installation of two 40m aluminium linkspans.
The last element was the assembly and floating installation of a 120m pontoon. The pontoon was manufactured in the north east of the UK before being transported along the coastline to Harwich on a coaster vessel. Once in Harwich, the pontoons were offloaded and assembled by Red7Marine to complete the installation, adjacent to the newly constructed O&M building.
The works were carried out using Red7Marine’s jack up barge, Haven Seaway, and flat top barge, Haven Sea Voyager. The gate system for installing the piles was manufactured at Red7Marine’s workshop in the port of Ipswich. The gate system together with the permanent works (piles and walkway system) was loaded out through the Red7Marine Ipswich facility and transported down the river to Harwich by the Haven Sea Voyager for installation by the Haven Seaway, jack up barge.
As part of the work, it was important that Red7Marine completed the marine piling by the end of September, to comply with consents and licenses. As the contract was awarded in late June, it meant that Red7Marine had to pool together all of its expertise quickly and efficiently, in order to ensure that the project was on-site and executed within the specific timeframe. However, the team were able to effectively achieve this for the client, including receiving approvals, reviews, recommendations and clearances by the Marine Warranty Surveyor, who acted on behalf of the end users.
CEO, Nick Offord, comments: “Over the course of the summer we have completed a number of prestigious projects – including most recently the works at Galloper Wind Farm. Being involved in a local job is extremely rewarding and it’s great to see how our work can have a positive impact on projects close to home. As a result of the expertise of our skilled team, we were able to deliver all the works within a short timeframe, and we hope to embark on our next local project very soon.”
Red7Marine’s work is part of the wider Galloper Offshore Wind Farm project – a 353MW wind farm located 30km off the coast of Suffolk. Once completed, 56 turbines will generate enough green electricity to power the equivalent of more than 380,000 British homes.
