Multimillion expansion at South Harbour - Aberdeen

Doka supplied the specialist formwork and technical support to facilitate a multimillion expansion of South Harbour in Aberdeen, the largest marine infrastructure project in Trust port history.

The company worked in conjunction with contractor Beattie FRC on the harbour’s North Breakwater Crown Wall and surrounding main quay works.

The overall aim of the ambitious development at the town’s largest harbour in Nigg Bay was to expand and diversify its use. The increased quayside space allows for more vessels to dock and significantly broaden trade opportunities around the North Sea.

The 620m crown wall’s concrete construction was the result of detailed consultation between Doka and Beattie FRC. The contractor specified a two-pour solution in height involving 10m lengths boxes for what was an extremely largescale programme. With inclement weather a potential hinderance, the need for formwork that led to the wall’s construction within the client’s strict deadline was of the utmost importance. Doka had the knowhow and equipment to deliver the required solution.

Equipped for building success

The Framax Xlife & Eurex 60 550 plumbing struts, MF240 platforms, WS10 Platforms from Doka were key to the safe, timely completion of the crown wall pours, which varied from 3m to 5.5m in height. The system’s rapid-forming capability was enabled by its optimised panel sizes which worked perfectly for the new desired pour heights. Furthermore, its forming times are kept to a minimum by widely-spaced form-ties of up to 1.35m apart. With the Framax Xlife unit, accuracy is not compromised for speed, with all connectors and accessories fitting seamlessly by the site team.

On the crown wall quayside, the Doka MF240 climbing formwork optimised any on-site works as these were all assembled offsite by Doka in Sheffield. It meant that when they arrived at the site, they were almost immediately placed on the wall. The fully edge-protected, 2.40m-wide working platform enabled engineers regular, controlled access to the crown wall during its construction, as well as being able to plumb and align the Framax.

Similarly, this process was duplicated for the WS10 platforms for the North Sea side of the wall. On this side of the wall the top pour contained a cope that had to be formed and supported. This helped inform the WS10 platforms’ design.

The cope’s load was transferred from the T7 spindles back to the platform and cast in wall anchors. This further intricate detail was easily accommodated by the range of quality Doka systems.

The South Harbour’s expansion has achieved a number of beneficial outcomes. These include increasing the harbour’s water depth to 15m; enabled the berthing of 300m vessels; expanding laydown area to 125,000m² and widening channel access to 165m.

The harbour has opened to vessels, a number of which are docking at Nigg Bay for the first time thanks to the additional space the expansion has allowed. A huge investment that will profit the country as a whole, Doka is proud of its role in the regeneration of infrastructure that remains vital to the heritage and fiscal wellbeing of a grand Scottish town.