New Breakwater for Town Quay Southampton

New Breakwater Announced for Town Quay Southampton

Mackley have been awarded the contract by Associated British Ports to replace the inner wavebreak pontoon at Town Quay in the Port of Southampton. Intermarine, as part of the Mackley Group, will be responsible for delivering the project. At 129m long, 5m wide and 2.8m deep, the new floating concrete breakwater will be one of the largest in the UK.

Traditionally, large breakwater pontoons are manufactured in mainland Europe and transported to the UK by ship. With this project however, Intermarine will break the mould by having the seven, 65 ton, floating concrete units built in the Port of Southampton itself. By manufacturing on site, apart from the environmental benefits, there will be obvious financial savings as well. To make this happen, British materials and suppliers will be utilized, alongside expertise from an established European breakwater manufacturer, Ørsta Marina Systems.

Intermarine will also be working alongside Ørsta Norway on the design of the breakwater pontoons and associated moorings. One of the special features of the breakwater units, apart from their large size, is that they are connected using continuous steel wire ropes running through the length of the pontoons, and tensioned to create the complete breakwater. This means the majority of the connections will be in compression, whereas more typical individually bolted or wired connections lead to the concrete at the joints being in tension.

Associated British Ports can rest assured the project is in safe hands. The Mackley Group, with long-standing expertise in large-scale civil engineering and construction projects, in partnership with Intermarine, an established supplier of marina pontoons, have the capability to deliver the best of both worlds for the Port of Southampton.

For further details on the project contact Scott Gaherty at Intermarine on +44 (0) 23 8023 1332