Scottish firms to build Eyemouth base for offshore wind farm powering 375,000 homes

Two Scottish companies have been selected to build an operational base at Eyemouth harbour for a giant offshore wind farm.

The appointment of Fife-headquartered Muir Construction and Inland and Coastal of Lossiemouth marks the latest stage in the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) project.

Neart na Gaoithe – meaning “strength of the wind” – is a key UK offshore wind farm development with up to £1.8 billion invested in its infrastructure. It will be located in the outer Forth Estuary.

Muir Construction, based in Inverkeithing, has been appointed to design and build NnG’s three-storey main operations and maintenance building and its two-storey storage warehouse. The base will bring an economic boost to Eyemouth providing up to 50 permanent jobs.

An image of how the operations and maintenance base at Eyemouth Harbour should look when completed.

Inland and Coastal, meanwhile, will design, manufacture and install the harbour’s new pontoon to make the basin accessible to crew transfer vessels and technicians.

NnG, jointly owned by EDF Renewables UK and ESB, signed a lease with Eyemouth Harbour Trust in February which saw the location confirmed as the operations and maintenance (O&M) base for the project’s 25-year lifespan.

The new building will house the office, warehouse and staff welfare facilities required to support the servicing of NnG once the wind farm is fully operational.

Muir Construction has started enabling works with construction expected to commence this month while Inland and Coastal has completed the pontoon design with fabrication to get under way shortly and installation to start later this year.

The wind farm will supply enough low carbon electricity for some 375,000 homes and has a capacity of around 450 megawatts.

Project director Matthias Haag said: “I’m really pleased to welcome Muir Construction and Inland and Coastal to the NnG project.

“We are fully committed to using the Scottish supply chain wherever possible and these two fantastic companies join a long list of Scottish business who are supporting delivery of this hugely important infrastructure project for Scotland.

“Both have a wealth of experience and expertise in their field, and I look forward to working closely with them on the construction of our O&M base and pontoon.

“I’m really pleased that as well as supporting the 25-year lifespan of the offshore wind farm, the O&M base will bring with it fantastic socio-economic benefits for the town of Eyemouth and the local community.”

Muir Construction’s business development director David Fairweather said: “Working in the renewables sector, and particularly with NnG, has been one of the most pro-active and collaborative procurement experiences encountered by us at Muir Construction.

“I believe the positive impact that power generation of this nature enables flows through to the attitude of the delivery team, building on what we hope will be a long-term relationship for Muir Construction with the renewables sector.”

Vincent Carey, Inland and Coastal’ s senior commercial manager, said: “The offshore wind industry is a very young and exciting sector to be working in at present. We look forward to working with NnG to deliver a high quality berthing pontoon facility at Eyemouth to ensure safe access to vessels long in to the future.”

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