Page 55: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (Oct/Nov 2013)

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Allerton Steel year. Diameters of the foundations constructs a J-lay

EPIC have grown from 3-4m, when they tower at North were frst being built, to 6-7m today.

Yorkshire.

Dawson says designs for monopiles with 10m diameter are now on design- engineering busi- er’s drawing tables. ness Houlder,

There had been a move to use of fexible pipe spe- jackets, but monopiles have been sup- cialist Flexlife, and porting turbines of up to 28-30m and London Offshore are being extended to 35-36m, carrying Consultants. bigger turbines, he says. “It is a resilient

Bigger turbines are coming. In region with a good solid engineering over the world with their discipline

August, the National Renewable base and with people who travel all and trades,” concludes Moon.

Energy Centre (Narec), at Blyth, just north of Newcastle, took delivery of a 7MW Samsung wind turbine nacelle, which will be used to commission

Narec’s £47 million (US$73 million) independent 15MW capacity test facil- ity, before a six-month testing program begins on the nacelle.

Heavy engineering is not limited to jackets and wind turbine foundations.

Allerton Steel, in North Yorkshire, works across industrial sectors, with a heritage in crane manufacturing.

However, recent growth, particularly in the last fve years, has come from the ADVANCED oil and gas sector.

From working on one to two oil and gas projects a year, oil and gas projects are now a permanent feature in the

FABRICATION workshop and the sector accounts for 60-70% of the company’s turnover.

These have mostly been structural

SOLUTIONS elements, for topsides or jackets, but now Allerton is moving into mechanical

Integrated Design and contracted to design, fabricate plant, from J-lay towers to ROV launch and install 11 suction piles, four and recovery systems and even an

Fabrication Optimizes manifold foundations, three offshore wind turbine pile gripper for an booster foundations and four tie-in

Operation Time.

installation vessel, recently installed. foundations, interMoor optimized

Paul Denning, a director at Allerton, operation time in order to achieve says the company’s workshop is close aggressive delivery schedule.

to capacity and the frm is considering interMoor’s extensive suction pile expansion. design experience, coupled with

It is a common theme in the north- its state-of-the-art fabrication east. Oilfeld services frm Archer facility enabled interMoor recently agreed a 10-year lease on a to accelerate the production 22,000sq ft premises, and fuid transfer schedule, deliver and install system FES International moved to

Mooring • Foundations • Subsea the project ahead of the a new manufacturing site in January, client’s timetable.

and is already considering further [email protected] that’s Fabrication Expertise. expansion. www.intermoor.com/foundations operational Know-How.

Tekmar, a subsea cable protection specialist, is adding 75,000sq ft to its 1 222

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Skills in the region are attracting frms to make their frst step into the area, including JDR but also Marine oedigital.com October 2013 | OE 57 052_OE1013_EPIC4-newcastle.indd 57 9/29/13 10:04 PM