RED7MARINE SUPPORTS SOUTHBAY CIVIL ENGINEERING AT THE COAL AUTHORITY’S DAWDON MINE WATER TREATMENT SCHEME

The Marine Partner of Choice, Red7Marine, recently supported a major marine civil engineering project at the Coal Authority’s Dawdon Mine Water Treatment Scheme (MWTS).

The Dawdon MWTS protects a vital underground source of drinking water that is supplied to around 30,000 people in the region. The MWTS is situated 1km south of Dawdon in County Durham and treats mine water that has built up since pumping stopped due to the closing of local collieries, each year it treats over 2,000 million litres of mine water.

To ensure full protection of the public, marine maintenance was undertaken to sustain the flow of the mine water.The overall project was managed by Principal Contractor Southbay Civil Engineering on behalf of The Coal Authority. Red7Marine’s 250t deck capacity Haven Seariser 1 jack-up barge supported the operations, acting as a dive platform for the maintenance activities to be performed from.

A close collaborative working relationship between all members of the project team was crucial for the delivery in these specialist works. This project involved a significant amount of planning, which was led by Southbay as main contractor. Pre-planning was required due to challenging tidal environment and associated logistics in terms of accessing the outfall structures, in particular crew transfer and delivery of materials.

Due to the high saline content of the mine water, Dawdon MWTS uses two Short Sea Outfall pipes (SSO) to take treated water from Dawdon to disperse it safely into the North Sea. Red7Marine’s barge, the Haven Seariser 1, was previously working on the Isle of Skye in Uig and was mobilised to site via a tug. A team of specialist divers, from Southbay Civil Engineering, entered the North Sea from the jack-up barge to carry out the investigations and repairs. The barge was situated just off Nose’s Point near the location of the SSO.

Kristen Branford, Managing Director, Red7Marine: “Thanks to Southbay Civil Engineering and The Coal Authority for allowing us to support your team with this important project. This maintenance will play a crucial role in protecting the local public and the environment.

The success in delivering this project was significantly credited to the close working collaboration of the teams and we look forward to continuing work together in the future.”

Pete Bingham of The Coal Authority said: “Together with our partners, we are committed to protecting the public and the environment from the effects of the UK’s mining legacy, which has deep roots in the northeast of England and these routine works are clear and visible evidence of this commitment.”