by Kintyre Forum News » Fri Feb 03, 2006 9:54 pm
Further update - as far as we know the work has been completed.
CAMPBELTOWN NEW QUAY
The work to widen Campbeltown’s New Quay is now drawing to a close and shipping can once again berth on the inner harbour face of the pier.
Argyll and Bute Council initiated the project in 2003 after a request from Vestas-Celtic, the local wind turbine manufacturer, for a wider pier structure to assist in their export operations. The Council’s in-house consultancy, Roads Design, undertook the preliminary design work and sought sources of external funding assistance prior to engaging Scott Wilson Scotland Limited to complete the detailed design and invite tenders for construction.
Councillor Alastair McKinlay, Chair of Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islay Area Committee said, “The development of Campbeltown harbour is an important and exciting period in the town’s history. The new quay will benefit everyone who uses it and the facility should attract more visitors to Campbeltown and south Kintyre.”
In December 2004 the Council appointed RJ MacLeod as its contractor who started operations on site in March last year with substantial completion achieved just prior to Christmas. The lighting was installed earlier this month and the security fencing is scheduled for completion very shortly.
The quay is now 40 metres wide and the new inner harbour berth is 120 metres in length with a minimum dredged depth available of 5 metres below local chart datum. The associated slipway is 50 metres long and 20 metres wide and has timber keel blocks installed adjacent to the quay wall for easier access for ship maintenance. Booking of the slipway berth is available through the harbourmaster.
The main part of the new berth has been formed by steel piles known as a combi wall where traditional sheet piles are interspersed with circular piles to give additional strength. These are anchored back to the original pier using steel tie rods and the granular infill covered with a reinforced concrete top surface. The outer end of the quay has been formed with what is known as open deck construction with discrete circular bearing piles supporting a heavily reinforced concrete suspended deck slab.
The main piling components consisted of 1,550 tonnes of steel piles with a maximum length of 41 metres. Some of the bearing piles were longer than originally anticipated because of some unexpected variations in the level of the boulder clay level in this area. 2600 cubic metres of concrete were used incorporating 200 tonnes of steel reinforcement. The total volume of granular infill was19,800 cubic metres and over 11,000 cubic metres of material was dredged to form the new berth.
Funding for the project has been provided by Argyll and Bute Council, the European Regional Development Fund and Argyll and the Isles Enterprise.
The Council acknowledges that regular users of the New Quay have been inconvenienced while the work was been undertaken and appreciates the understanding and cooperation of all harbour users during this time. Campbeltown has a new facility to be justly proud of and the Council looks forward to many years of use of the New Quay.