PONTOONS

Refurbishment at UK’s busiest lifeboat station

Amajor refurbishment project on the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s (RNLI) busiest station was completed earlier this year by Walcon Marine. Located on the North side of the River Thames in central London, RNLI Tower not only handles over 500 call-outs each year, it is also one of the RNLI’s few stations that are afloat. As such, it has to contend with a tidal range of six metres and the challenges that come with being on what is by far the UK’s busiest inland waterway.

The works undertaken by Walcon involved the fabrication and installation of two 20 metre aluminium bridges plus a ramp for disabled access that together connect the platform to the Embankment towpath behind. The ramp was a bespoke project involving detailed design plus high precision manufacture to ensure fast and smooth passages for injured persons being taken ashore on wheeled stretchers en route to hospital.

The full scope of the project required the replacement of a single steel bridge, which had reached the end of its life. However, as there are two landing recesses built into the embankment wall, it was decided that two aluminium bridges should be installed to give

Danish harbour installs floating concrete docks

Less than 65 km West of Copenhagen, Roskilde Fjord is a scenic part of Denmark, which is well-known for its natural beauty and is recognised as a boating paradise. Roskilde Havn (harbour) recently completed an ambitious improvement project with the addition of 240 metres of state-of-the-art SF Marina floating concrete docks. The expansion accommodates over 40 vessels and provides wavedampening protection to the marina.

SF Marina floating concrete docks are virtually unsinkable. Thick-walled and steel-reinforced, they regularly overcome violent weather, so the occasional bump from a berth-holder’s craft offers little chance of damaging them. The individual pontoons at Roskilde Havn are connected via an advanced energy-absorbing coupling system and are secured to the seabed with 27 metre long x 50 cm wide external piles.

Installed by SF Pontona ApS of Denmark, the Roskilde Havn layout includes a 105 metre long x 3 metre wide angled dock and walkway comprising six SF1024 pontoons that add 12 berths. This terminates at the centre of a straight 135 metre long x 6 redundancy in the event of one or the other requiring maintenance. The upstream bridge was fitted first into the vacant opening. The original bridge was then removed and the new downstream bridge installed in its place. The onsite assembly and installation works, overseen by infrastructure specialist HerboschKiere NV, took four weeks to complete, with the station fully operational throughout. The entire project was a major logistical challenge as the new structures were delivered by road to Tilbury and then taken up the Thames by crane barge to the site in the heart of London, where the old bridge was lifted out and new ones lowered into position.

Walcon Marine Ltd sales@walconmarine.com www.walconmarine.com

metre wide dock section of seven SF1040 pontoons, with space for an additional 30 boats. All finger piers are ten metres in length to serve a wide range of vessel lengths. The fjord-side of the large portion can accommodate larger vessels parallel to the dock. Connected to an older portion of the marina is a new angled 30 metre long x 2 metre wide segment that dampens incoming wave action.

Founded in 1972, Roskilde Havn provides 310 on-water berths and a marine service facility. It hosts sailing and rowing clubs, and a Viking ship museum. The fjord itself is a Danish National Park, with 30 islands and inlets to explore.

SF Marina info@sfmarina.com www.sfmarina.com

Dura products chosen by Premier Marinas

Marine products from Dura Composites, including d2 Dura Grating Mini Mesh, d2 Dura Platform 40 and d2 Dura Profile beams, have been installed at Noss-on-

Dart Marina, during its £75 million redevelopment. Updates to the marina, which is situated within an

‘Area of Outstanding National Beauty’ in South Devon, also include new boatyard facilities, the highlight of which is a closed loop boat washdown water recycling system.

The decking manufacturer was chosen by Premier Marinas, which owns Noss-on-Dart Marina, to work with its engineering company to produce a composite floor structure around the facility’s boat hoist supported by large 305 mm GRP

Dura Profile beams between 6-10 metres in length. The team chose the GRP material over steel due to its strength to weight ratio and superior performance in corrosive salt-water environments.

Dura Profiles exceed the higher performance E23 grade requirement of the BS EN 13706 standard. The company carried out a full FEA study and CAD service to enable the fabrication and supply of materials to Teignmouth Maritime Services ready for installation. The lightweight nature of the GRP profiles versus steel meant that installation was much quicker and more efficient.

Also central to the effective operation of the washdown and hoist are d2 Dura Grating and Dura Platform 40 flooring made from moulded and pultruded highperformance GRP panels, whose design is unique to Dura. The open mesh section utilises 55 mm d2 Dura Grating Mini Mesh in dark grey, which facilitates drainage whilst maintaining strength and unrivalled anti-slip properties. The solid surface sections were created using patented d2 Dura Platform 40, which are crankable to create an in-built fall to aid water run-off.

Dura Composites Ltd info@duracomposites.com www.duracomposites.com

Creating berthing people want to come home to

“Not only do Inland and Coastal Marina Systems produce durable pontoon systems, the team works with what currently exists, making more efficient use of time, resources and budget.”

Christopher Odling-Smee, MD, The Marine Group