The proposals for South Korean steel manufacturer Seah Wind’s £300M offshore wind turbine base factory at Teesside’s Freeport have received planning approval.
Located on a 90ha site the facility is the largest of its kind in the world, at over 40m tall and 800m in length.
Seah Wind is a UK subsidiary of South Korea's pipe manufacturer Seah Steel Holdings. The facility will become the company's first such resource outside of South Korea.
The facility will offer over 100,000m2 of factory space to produce extra-large monopiles up to 120m in length, 15.5m in diameter and weighing 3,000t. These will be used to support offshore wind turbines.
When fully operational, the facility is expected to produce between 100 and 150 monopiles per year. These will then be transported directly from the factory to Teesworks’ new South Bank Quay facility before heading to the North Sea for installation using specialised pile driving equipment.
K2 Consultancy is the project manager, construction manager and cost consultant. Clarkebond is the civil, structural and geo-environmental engineer, Waterman Group is the building services engineer, and Ashton Smith Associates is the architect.
Clarkebond has delivered structural, civils and geo-environmental engineering services for the facility. It has successfully managed the ground investigation to a tight timeline.
At the beginning of the year, the team worked with a specialist contractor and commenced testing and borehole investigation within three weeks of tender return and four weeks on site.
Waterman’s building services design focuses on energy efficiency in operation. It also offers a high level of environmental controllability to maximise material longevity and ensure the production of a premium quality end product.
The main manufacturing building is an unheated space, with the services concentrating on air quality and adaptable lighting. The building’s ventilation system incorporates high and low level automatically controlled ventilation openings.
The electrical lighting will be combined with natural light from rooflights to ensure lux levels are maintained throughout operational hours, providing visual comfort and further reducing the building’s energy footprint.
Meanwhile, Ashton Smith Associates’ layout design focuses on creating a space with an optimal capacity for monopile construction.
The layout has been carefully developed to achieve a configuration which satisfies SeAH Wind’s operational requirements, ensuring each space is interconnected efficiently and safely, with all disciplines operating under one roof.
Clarkebond director Theodore Tai said: “Being at the forefront of the design for the largest monopiles manufacturing facility, we are proud to engage in such an important energy scheme and fulfil the current government energy policy of exploring an alternative energy system for the UK market.”
Waterman managing director for building services in the north Jonathan Purcell commented: “We are delighted to see this exciting scheme now submitted for planning approval. Seah Wind’s sustainable manufacturing facility will help secure the north-east’s position as an alternative energy powerhouse, whilst providing an employment boost to the local region.”
K2 director of project management Nick Coke said the project gave the company the opportunity to deliver a “pioneering facility that will kick-start much needed regeneration on Teesside.” He added: “This brings some fresh challenges as the project requires us to deliver for a Korean client new to the UK.”
In July last year it named the unbuilt Able Marine Energy Park (AMEP) on the Humber estuary as its preferred site for the monopile factory. However, the company pulled out citing "business reasons".
Site works are scheduled to commence at the Teesside site in July with overall completion anticipated in 2024.
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