Environment

Offshore wind's first artificial nesting boxes installed off UK coast

View 3 Images
Red7Marine's Haven SeaChallenger jack-up barge has the capacity to transport two artificial nesting structures out to an installation location, where a monopile is driven into the seabed and the topside structure bolted in position
Red7Marine
Red7Marine's Haven SeaChallenger jack-up barge has the capacity to transport two artificial nesting structures out to an installation location, where a monopile is driven into the seabed and the topside structure bolted in position
Red7Marine
Each artificial nesting structure is home to around 500 nesting compartments, with numbers of black-legged kittiwakes monitored yearly
Red7Marine
Red7Marine joined Project RISSA in August 2022 to work on fabrication and installation of the artificial nesting structures designed by a team of ecologists, architects and engineers
Red7Marine
View gallery - 3 images

Back in August last year, Red7Marine joined a project led by Danish multinational Ørsted to design and install artificial nesting sites for threatened seabirds close to the Suffolk shoreline as part of the upcoming Hornsea 3 offshore windfarm project.

Ørsted was awarded the contract for the Hornsea 3 project by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in July of last year, and an "ecological compensation measure" was included as part of that arrangement.

While the 2,852-MW wind farm is to be located 160 km (99.4 miles) off the Yorkshire coast (joining the Hornsea 1 and Hornsea 2 installations for a total capacity of more than 5 GW, and "covering the power consumption of approx. 5 million UK homes"), three artificial nesting structures have been installed off the Suffolk shoreline – two around a kilometer (0.62 miles) out from Lowestoft and a third positioned 1.4 km (0.87 miles) from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' Minsmere Nature Reserve.

Each artificial nesting structure is home to around 500 nesting compartments, with numbers of black-legged kittiwakes monitored yearly
Red7Marine

Hailed as the first of its kind, the purpose-built structures have been designed by a team of ecologists, architects and engineers to attract the vulnerable black-legged kittiwake. They each have eight side walls, seven featuring narrow ledges fitted with compartments to mimic the natural nesting sites of cliffs and the remaining side home to emergency access barn doors.

The installation process began with the structural elements being assembled at the Port of Lowestoft, and then hauled out to the sites on Red7Marine's Typhoon 3000 and Haven SeaChallenger jack-up barges.

For each artificial nesting structure, a huge monopile was lifted from a jack-up barge, pitched through a bespoke piling gate and installed using a vibratory hammer before a self-driving percussion hammer forced it down 30 m (98.4 ft) below the seabed. A topside nesting structure was then craned into position and bolted on.

Red7Marine joined Project RISSA in August 2022 to work on fabrication and installation of the artificial nesting structures designed by a team of ecologists, architects and engineers
Red7Marine

In accordance with requests from the local port authority and coastguard, the base has been painted yellow and there are navigation lights on the off-white nesting structure. Each unit is home to around 500 nesting spaces, which will be monitored for occupancy and productivity, and the data shared with local groups like the Lowestoft Kittiwake Partnership.

"We are delighted to announce the successful completion of ‘Project RISSA’ involving the installation of three artificial nesting structures," said Kristen Branford, Managing Director at Red7Marine. "These structures will play a crucial role in supporting an important and vulnerable species, whilst enabling the generation of clean, green electricity for the Hornsea 3 project. This project is the first of its kind and required meticulous planning and consideration, and we are proud to have achieved this significant milestone."

Source: Red7Marine

View gallery - 3 images
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Flipboard
  • LinkedIn
3 comments
Username
No word on whether any residents have moved in?
annevance
And in the meantime the other birds are being axed by the huge windmills and seabed is destroyed by all these concrete structures. fishing and regular shipping is almost impossible. Just a matter of time before the first oiltanker crashes into these structures. And we keep asking ourselves why there are so many dead sea species washing up the shores.
Sorry, but I think we are destroying our world.
Claudio
soon to be covered in bird poop...