One of our recent and more unusual projects we’ve been involved in was the Primary Intake Substation Superstructure at HMNB Portsmouth.

HMNB Portsmouth will be an integral part to the Royal navy – as the home to two new aircraft carriers – HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales. They will be the biggest ships ever built for the Royal Navy. As a consequence of this, significant infrastructure improvements had to be made to accommodate the ships.

The project involved design, supply and installation of the Primary Intake Substation Building Superstructure – which included steel frame works, noise attenuating insulation, roller shutters and, crucially, the external compound security fencing and gates.

While the project details seem relatively straightforward, the location delivered new challenges. The procedure of accessing the site was quite immense – due to security restrictions all workers had to register 24 hours before starting.

There was no room for manoeuvre with this project – due to the delivery times of the aircraft carriers, the substation had to be completed in time to receive them. The extreme and severe weather conditions that we experienced working at a port open to the elements of The Solent meant that we also had to wrap the building in polythene prior to the brickwork starting!

Despite some of these challenges the project was a great success – finished on time and ready for HMS’ Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales.