North-east firm safely delivers jacket finishing touches
North-east based Wescott Industrial Services Limited is part of Wescott Group – a globally recognised asset life integrity and integrated services provider. The firm recently expanded its in-house capabilities with the acquisition of Hull-based specialist scaffolding services provider SGS Ltd., enabling a more integrated service offering to clients.
Wescott was contracted by Inch Cape contractor Smulders to provide a safe, efficient and cost-effective solution for access, encapsulation, and coating removal and re-application on the project’s middle jacket foundation structure at the Wallsend facility. Several surface preparation solutions were considered, but eventually a traditional solution was selected that included the following stages:
- Scaffold access – system scaffolding (Layher) was used for time efficiency
- Full containment – shrinkwrap sheeting
- Surface preparation – fresh water wash and full blast to SA2.5 all steel surfaces
- Application of coating system – Interzone 954 and Interzone 1000
- Controlled climatic conditions and ventilation
The work was carried out during the winter of 2024/25.
Outcome
This project presented several challenges not least being the winter conditions, limited timeframe and high quality standards with stringent inspections. The internal environment required more than 85 percent relative humidity, a minimum temperature of 20 Celsius and a steel temperature of 3C above dew point, all when there was rain and high wind outside.
Wescott had to use ingenuity and specifically tailored methodologies to deliver the project safely, on time and within budget. The solutions included:
- Fully designed system scaffold to reduce overall erection and dismantle times.
- Use of heaters, dehumidifiers and dust box filter units as well as a digital monitoring system for real time readings of the internal conditions.
- Heat shrunk sheeting to provide a robust containment and to maintain the internal environmental control measures.
- Internal zoning of the jacket to enable simultaneous operations in four different quadrants, reducing the overall duration. Use of a blast primer also ensured the project did not overrun.
- Use of several quality inspectors to ensure any issues associated with quality where minimised.
Through its work on the Inch Cape jacket, Wescott has gained valuable experience of working in challenging conditions to tight timeframes that will be leveraged for future projects.
Mark Duffy, Managing Director of Wescott Group said:
“We were extremely pleased to be awarded this scope to assist in the removal and reapplication of the coating system of the Inch Cape middle jacket alongside providing access and containment. We have been involved in a significant amount of wind farm projects over the past 15 years throughout the UK and Europe, ranging from fabrication stage, hook up and commissioning, ongoing maintenance, and full preservation and remediation schemes. It was an absolute pleasure to receive this opportunity to add our specialist services to another UK windfarm asset which was fabricated on our doorstep on the River Tyne at Smulders Wallsend.”