Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind: Welfare and Office Buildings
The Challenge
The Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm is a joint venture 504MW farm between SSE Renewables and RWE Renewables with 140 turbines, providing enough low-carbon renewable energy to power the equivalent of over 400,000 UK homes.
During construction phase, two modular buildings were required to provide quality CDM-compliant welfare and comfortable office space facilities for the contractor crews. The project, located on a former herring site, is in a remote location with minimal local amenities, so the quality of the welfare and modular offices was a key consideration for the 260-week lease period.
Our Solution
Following in-depth consultations with main contractor SSE Renewables, Algeco designed and built fully-furnished welfare and office accommodation to meet the client needs. The modular buildings were installed onto the concrete base of a previously demolished building, so Algeco undertook a full ground investigation to establish the foundation solution and service connections required.
The first modular building consisted of ten modules over two floors, with a locker room, shower room, drying room, plant room, male WC and a female welfare area on the ground floor. The first floor housed a large canteen area and a relaxation area.
The second building, a five-module office, consisted of a hot desk area, project office, a private office, permit office, kitchenette and two unisex toilets. The building also stored equipment and confidential information, so needed to be highly secure. Algeco installed CCTV security cameras, fire alarms and the Wi-Fi network, along with a full mechanical and electrical maintenance package for the duration of the hire contract, to ensure that critical equipment was kept in full working order at all times. A damage waiver was included to protect SSE against any unexpected damage caused over the long hire period
Both Algeco and customers from the joint venture organisations were very satisfied with the solution delivered.
Liam Scott of SSE Renewables agreed: “the building is fantastic, great quality and better than we expected. It’s getting a lot of attention”.
Expectations exceeded… we can’t ask for much more than that!
