A Rubb custom designed structure is going on an offshore adventure after being lifted into place to provide cover for wind turbine blade improvement and upgrade work.
The building was transferred via crane from the dockside onto an offshore vessel. The custom designed buildings will support improvement and upgrade operations to wind turbine blades off the Kent coast in the outer Thames Estuary.
This most recent offshore project saw the company investigate a wind turbine blade improvement and upgrade solution, utilising its offshore jack-up vessels. To make the operation cost effective and efficient, the wind turbine blades had to be modified out at sea and under cover. Doing this would save time and money taken to transport the blades back to shore and it would resolve the high risk of personnel doing the modifications up at height.
The solution to completing this project was to construct a bespoke structure on board the specially designed vessel. After working closely with the Rubb design team, a viable concept was created. The new blade improvement structure was fully constructed on the dockside, then lifted with the a 1000 tonne crane into position on to a specially designed platform.
The Rubb custom designed wind turbine blade building measures 22.3m wide x 20m long x 5.5m high. This bespoke offshore structure is designed in line with SOLAS to specific wind and snow loads to withstand the extreme conditions of the North Sea. The facility comes complete with three 2 tonne AFT doors to create a climate controlled internal production area. The doors will allow three 58.8m long B58 wind turbine blades to protrude at 19m from the end of the blade, whilst maintaining a weather proof seal.
To enhance the internal working environment, the structure is insulated with Rubb’s 150mm thick Thermohall cladding, producing a U-Value of 0.25 W/m2K. High Lux level lighting has been installed along with a suitable heating and ventilation system to ensure a temperature performance of +18 to +25oC and to make sure humidity will not exceed 80%.
