Turner Iceni has been awarded a contract exceeding GB£4m by ScottishPower Renewables to provide crew transfer vessel support for the construction of the East Anglia ONE offshore windfarm.

Turner Iceni will provide vessels for the construction and commissioning phases of the GB£2.5bn windfarm off the south east coast of the UK. The Lowestoft-based company will support ScottishPower Renewables and its contractors 365 days per year, utilising up to three vessels and helping to support 50 jobs.

Charlie Jordan, ScottishPower Renewables project director for East Anglia ONE, said: “Turner Iceni will have an important role to play in making sure that our offshore work programme is successfully delivered, and the fact that they have a strong team based in Lowestoft was an added bonus for us.”

Project gearing up

The scope of the contract will include the transfer of light plant, tools, spares and personnel to and from the offshore wind turbines, the offshore substation and met mast locations.

Mr Jordan explained the first components of the windfarm are due to be installed offshore in a few weeks and work is due to start soon on its new operations and maintenance facility. He said this follows several months of good progress being made on the project’s onshore cable and substation work.

Richard Thurlow at Turner Iceni said: “Both vessels ScottishPower have chartered were built in Great Yarmouth, will be crewed by local people and will be operated from our Lowestoft base close to the new East Anglia One Operations and Maintenance facility.

“From the outset Scottish Power Renewables set a very high UK content target for the project, we are pleased to be able to help towards achieving this goal.”

By Rebecca Jeffrey