Barcaldine Hatchery

Barcaldine Hatchery

Careys undertook civil engineering works on a salmon fish hatchery comprising a portal steel frame, where we installed the ‘stub’ columns below ground. Our team successfully completed a 28,000m3 bulk excavation, construction of foundations, steelwork, pits and tanks, installation of site drainage, the ground floor slab and external landscaping works to the site.

Client

Scottish Sea Farms

Location

Barcaldine, Argyll

Principal Contractor

Robertsons

The project had a complex construction sequence due to the amount of pipework and multiple level concrete tanks required for the hatchery. Our first stage of work entailed excavation of the site down to platform levels governed by the lowest levels of pipework. Once excavated, our team formed the foundations of the new structure and installed the pipework before forming the lowest levels of the chamber bases.

The remote location of the project saw us use ‘Bunkabins’ to create an on-site community with facilities for our team

As these were poured, we formed the walls, which measured approximately 9m in height, backfilling against these and installing multiple layers of pipes before forming another chamber level. This cycle continued upwards, resulting in our team installing up to 17 layers of complex process pipework for the new facility.

Our programme relied heavily upon the performance of the specialist pipework contractor completing welding on time. As we had no contractual relationship with this team, we undertook multiple planning meetings with both them and our client prior to works commencing to schedule and agree a mutually acceptable programme of works.

Our ability to successfully manage this relationship was crucial to our ability to complete the programme of works on schedule.

The remote location of the site made commuting a challenging prospect for many of our operatives. To improve morale within the team, we therefore invested in a custom village of Bunkabins on site, which comprised of self-contained ensuite living units, as well as providing cooked meals, a gym, laundry facilities and a games room for the team, plus free wi-fi for them to keep in touch with friends and family back home.

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