There is a growing market for the construction industry in the renewable energy sector and the most visible sign of this growth is the proliferation of wind farms throughout the country. One area reaping the benefit of this development is East Anglia – the winds blowing inland and across the region from the North Sea are particularly suitable for being harvested for their energy.
A wind farm project that Camfaud has successfully completed recently is at Kessingland, near Lowestoft. The scheme is for two 126m high turbines – one in the wildlife park Africa Alive! and the other on land owned by a neighbouring farmer. Between them, they have the capacity to generate energy to power 3,745 homes.
Managers at Africa Alive! do not anticipate that the turbines will cause any problems to the animals but are watching them closely during the construction phase of the project and will continue monitoring them when the turbines are brought into use.
At Kessingland, Camfaud was involved in pumping concrete for the blinding and then main bases for the masts. The blinding serves to create a level surface on which to set the shutters and reinforcing steel – it is fairly critical to build the wind turbine towers truly vertical! The main base, with ducts to deliver power from the turbines to the grid, was then poured atop the blinding layer.
The blinding pours were carried out using an M34 pump and an M44 and M36 mobile concrete pump were used for the base pours. Two pumps were to build up the mass of concrete in layers in the base ensuring even pressure on the formwork and preventing cold joints from forming.
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Pumps: M34, M36 & M44
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Customer: R G Carter Civil Engineering Ltd
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Site: Kessingland
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Concrete Supplier: C & H Quickmix Ltd
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Date: March 2011