Dundee Delivers Balance Sheet Bonus

A keen eye for engineering detail will leave its ‘financial’ mark on Dundee as HBPW enters the final phase of a project that is playing its part in the £1bn upgrade of the Scottish city’s waterfront.

The main project, which started in 2001 with a projected finish date of 2031, encompasses 240 hectares of development land stretching 8km alongside the River Tay. The area, which is divided into five focussed zones, also includes Dundee Port.

HBPW was charged with providing designs and drawings for both the land side and marine works and was asked to oversee a series of individual schemes with specific outcomes:

• The demolition and replacement of Caledon East Wharf, which was built in 1945
• Upgrading of load capacity to the existing Prince Charles Wharf
• Upgrading of the Prince Charles Wharf Extension anchor wall.
• Construction of unmetalled hard standings capable of supporting huge crawler cranes.

But, as Martin Todd explains, someone will have had an unexpected windfall.

“The piles for the replacement Caledon East Wharf are now in place and construction teams have begun installing the pre-cast units and the deck for the replacement wharf.

“Detailed design combined with focused investigation work to determine the actual AS Built construction has allowed HBPW to conclude that no strengthening works are required to the existing Prince Charles Wharf, its existing piles or, indeed, the Wharf Extension anchor wall, to cope with proposed higher loading capacities. That represents a considerable saving proving, once again, that money spent on quality engineering at the outset can often deliver massive savings in the longer term.”

The four schemes represent a £25m investment.

“Construction of the unmetalled hard standings for huge crawler cranes are almost done too so, whilst work on the Dundee Waterfront will continue for the largest part of another decade, the HBPW element of this far-reaching scheme is all but complete.

“It is a huge scheme but it’s still nice to know that our small contribution has delivered some genuine value engineering savings for Graham Construction and Port of Dundee.”

Port of Dundee is the most northerly port owned by Forth Ports and is one of the largest economic generators in the City of Dundee. It is Scotland’s main agricultural hub with over 250,000 tonnes of agricultural products moving through the port annually.

The port has also been identified as one of Scotland’s top locations for renewable manufacturing by Scottish Enterprise under the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan.