The construction phase was marked by the arrival of the 164 m Nordnes vessel, which will position rocks at selected foundation locations in preparation for the start of the installation of the offshore wind turbine monopile foundation structures in April.

The Nordnes will place 2-9” filter rocks in a ‘donut’ shape around the site of 77 of the 90 offshore wind turbine foundation locations to reduce the likelihood of scour and protect the cables when they are installed.

Dutch company Van Oord has been contracted to carry out the filter layer work which will be the first stage of a two phase process. In the second phase, larger rocks will be placed in the same pattern to act as armour to the filter layer after all the offshore wind turbine foundations have been installed.

The Nordnes will be on site at Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm, 17-22 km off the coast of North Norfolk, until 18 March when it will return to Norway to collect its second load of rock. It will arrive back in the Greater Wash on 22 March, working until 30 March. The final rock placement for the Filter Layer work will be completed around early June 2010.

The Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm is owned equally by Norwegian Statoil and utility Statkraft through the joint venture company Scira Offshore Energy Ltd. Statoil is the operator for the project during the development phase. Scira will be the operator of the offshore wind farm.