Safeguarding the future of the Spurn Lightship

The wet berth for the Spurn Lightship on Hull Marina was created as part of a £30m cultural regeneration project in the company’s home city.

“We’re pleased to have completed the works that have enabled the movement of the historic Spurn Lightship, with the help of our supply chain partners Humber Work Boats and AJ Engineering,” said Richard Green-Morgan, off-site construction director for Spencer Group.

“We hope the new berth will enhance the city’s maritime status for future generations.”

Future proofing

The lightship was built in 1927 and served for 48 years as a navigation aid in the approaches of the Humber Estuary.

It has been closed since 2018 but is now set to reopen in its new home in the north-west corner of the marina, close to the Murdoch’s Connection footbridge, later in the summer.

The works by Spencer Group – which is based just a few hundred yards away – included dredging of the berthing area and the installation of five mooring piles and a steel walkway to allow access onto the lightship. The majority of the works were carried out from floating pontoons.

Spencer Group is committed to supporting young people launch and develop careers in the engineering sector and has taken on 50 apprentices from Hull’s Ron Dearing University Technical College (UTC) in just five years.

A number of former students played important roles in the Spurn Lightship wet berth works, both on and off site.

Trainee engineer Alex Burr, who completed her apprenticeship last August, was appointed project manager – despite only being 20 years old.

Supported by experienced Spencer Group project managers, she was based on site, overseeing the six-week programme of works, which had a team of up to 11 working on it at any one time.

“It was a fantastic experience and I’m so grateful to Spencer Group for putting its trust in me to take on such responsibility when I’m obviously still quite young,” she said.

“It also shows how supportive Spencer Group is of future generations of engineers, helping younger people who have just started out in their careers get their foot fully in the door and build up their experience and confidence.”