Bringing Blyth offshore project to life - gravity base foundations

North and Scotland Materials have recently completed five gravity base foundations (GBF) pours for BAM Nuttall at their Blyth offshore project.

These continuous pours took the team approx 40hrs to complete and provided a real challenge to the team, with tight timescales and specific customer requirements.

BAM required a self-compacting, high-density concrete as ballast for the five GBFs. This bespoke mix was designed by our technical team in the laboratory at Whitwell before a trial on site. The GBFs were initially cast in a dry dock at Neptune Yard, Wallsend, then floated down the River Tyne to South Shields where we supplied the concrete.

David Bravey, Readymix business manager, said: “These pours were challenging due to the size and logistics. We changed our raw materials, as standard aggregates were not the right density, and we had to feed two pumps from our Gateshead plant to site.

In addition, BAM had issues with offshore weather and floating the GBFs from their dry dock.

“Together our operational, technical and distribution teams worked hard to deliver for BAM and successfully complete the job.”

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“These pours were challenging, our operational, technical and distribution teams worked hard to deliver for BAM and successfully complete the job.”

David Bravey,
Readymix business manager, Tarmac