Doran Consulting was appointed in 2011 by the Belfast Harbour Commissioners as Design & Project Managers for the construction of a new wind turbine assembly facility located at D1, Airport Road West, Belfast Harbour. The new facility was required for the storage, assembly and loading of wind turbines for an offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea.
The works included the construction of 480m of new quay wall with deep water berthing facilities, to a depth of -13m HD. The new wall is a ‘combi wall’ structure, comprised of large diameter tubular piles with infill sheet piles.
Piled reinforced concrete relieving slab was placed immediately behind the quay wall to support the final assembly and loading of the wind turbines onto installation vessels. The site also required the construction on reclaimed land of 50 acres of heavy duty hinterland pavement comprised of unbound granular material reinforced with geogrids for the storage of the various turbine components. Dredging for the new berth and approach channels comprised some 450,000m3 of material.
The wind turbine facility is an innovative project as it is the first bespoke offshore wind installation and pre-assembly harbour in the UK. It was the largest project ever undertaken in Belfast Harbour’s 400 year history and was awarded the Concrete Society’s 2012 Civil Engineering Award and a Concrete Society Certificate of Excellence for Outstanding Merit in the Use of Concrete.