Ørsted Puts Focus on Sustainable East Coast Hub

Focus Consultants has won a contract to deliver sustainability services for Ørsted’s East Coast Hub which is currently under construction on the Royal Docks at Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

The building will represent an operations and maintenance hub to support both the construction and operation of Ørsted’s offshore wind farms, from which the company currently operates more than 1.2GW of capacity with a further 2.6GW under construction.

“The construction, operation and maintenance of such a large off-shore wind capacity necessarily requires a highly specialised and high-quality base from which to conduct activities,” said Focus partner Jason Redfearn.

“The new O&M hub, being constructed by Hobson & Porter, will provide such a facility. As a part of this, Focus Consultants has been appointed to undertake a BREEAM sustainability assessment of the building’s design and construction. With a target of ‘Very Good’, this requires the implementation of sustainability standards that surpass those of UK Building Regulations.”

Material selection within any development underpins the sustainable standards incorporated as part of the construction. The Ørsted O&M hub is targeting high scores within this section of BREEAM, which rewards those who procure materials with low environmental impact, including embodied carbon, over the life of the building. The scheme is also actively trying to manage the source of materials by selecting, where appropriate, suppliers that have EMS (Environmental Management Systems) in place.

“Energy efficiency measures are also being incorporated into the design in order to reduce the overall building’s operational consumption,” said Redfearn. “Photovoltaic panels will offset a proportion of the electrical energy requirements for the building, which otherwise would have been drawn from the grid. The development is targeting a performance which is the equivalent of an ‘Excellent’ rating under energy, even though the building is being developed to a ‘Very Good’ standard.”

Ørsted is developing the biggest offshore wind farms in the world off the Yorkshire Coast. Hornsea Project One and Two’s 339 turbines will have a combined capacity of 2.6GW and will become operational in 2020, and 2022 respectively.