The Managing Partner of HBPW, Paul Withers, is becoming an unwitting authority on birds – their breeding seasons at least – following two major assignments each of which had a requirement to consider man’s feathered friends!
Peel Ports has recently appointed Graham Construction as the preferred bidder for a new quay structure on the Manchester Ship Canal which will eventually provide for the loading of ocean going ships bound for foreign climes. HBPW will complete the engineering design.
“The bid was made on a design and build basis and, whilst it is still early days in terms of what the final job will look like in detail, one thing we do know is that the project will need to be totally sensitive to the needs of nesting and migrating birds.
“The bird nesting season can be as early as February or as late as August, and beyond, with comprehensive restrictions on developers depending on the geographical area and breed of bird indigenous to the location in question.
“Needless to say piling, which can cause noise, will have to be carefully scheduled for the Manchester job although this is not entirely unknown to us because we had to be aware of a similar issue during work on the Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal.
“As well as being an engineer I am now inadvertently turning into a twitcher with an increasing need to be aware of breeding seasons and the habits of our feathered friends!” said Paul!
