Safe Hands On The Tiller(bury!)

HBPW has been named as part of the team that will help develop the new £125m port terminal at Tilbury in Essex, now considered to be one of the most ‘nationally significant’ infrastructure projects in the UK.

The development on land at the former Tilbury Power Station is being spearheaded by Port of Tilbury London Limited (PoTLL) and represents an extension to existing operations.

Once complete ‘Tilbury 2’ will create several hundred new jobs as well as safeguarding the Port’s existing workforce of 700+ and those 8,600 full time jobs in the local economy that are a direct consequence of its existence.

HBPW’s Managing Partner, Paul Withers, said: “This is one of the most important civil engineering projects currently underway in the country and we will be working closely with Graham Construction to bring the terrestrial elements of the project to fruition.

“There will be new marine works as well as extensive hard standings and associated infrastructure.”

The proposed main components of Tilbury2 include:

• A Roll-On/Roll-Off (RoRo) terminal for importing and exporting containers and trailers and also containing a warehouse. This will be located at the southern part of the site.
• A “Construction Materials and Aggregates Terminal” (CMAT) for handling and processing bulk construction materials. This will be located at the northern part of the site.
• Other parts of the site will be used for storage of bulk goods or vehicles.

“It is a major result for the HBPW team in winning this contract, however, there’s no doubt that our historic experience working with Associated British Ports and Peel Ports on projects such as the Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal (IRFT) and Liverpool’s Gladstone Docks that has been key to us being named as the engineering firm of choice.”

Although members of the public and key stakeholders were consulted throughout, the original proposals were considered a “Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project” which meant they had to go before the government’s Planning Inspectorate directly rather than Thurrock Council.

Sea ports in the UK are deemed crucial to national prosperity and government policy is to support sustainable port development to meet the needs of importers and exporters thus contributing to long term economic growth of the UK. Tilbury Docks has been in existence for 130 years and its success in recent years means that more land is now required close to the Port in order to grow the business and support new jobs.