Engineering consultancy Dudleys oversees delivery of £1.3m expansion of facilities at Birkenhead Docks. Tony McDonough reports

Dudleys Consulting Engineers has overseen the completion of a dock upgrade project in Birkenhead.

Costing £1.3m, Dudleys work with principal contractor Kiernan Construction on the expansion of the facilities at Cavendish Quay on behalf of Peel Ports and the occupier NW Trading. Birkenhead Docks are part of the Port of Liverpool, owned by Peel.

This work comprised the creation of a new service yard to support expansion of the quayside operations. It presented “considerable engineering challenges” due to inconsistent ground and ingress of water in isolated areas.

Andy Walker, managing director at Dudleys, said: “This was a challenging project but certainly not beyond our expertise. This large area of ground adjacent the dock wall had softened over time due to water ingress.

“We advised a method of improving the ground bearing capacity through the use of combined geogrids, land drainage and controlled methods of placement.

“This has delivered a crust of ground capable of withstanding heavy dockside transport and storage loading combined with the restrictions of site levels and end user working tolerances.

“Provision of an extensive surface water drainage system was also incorporated to withstand climate change challenges on the site and manage any flooding of the existing drainage system.

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“During the works, the port and quayside remained operational with minimal disruptions. We pride ourselves on working as an integral partner with the client and entire contracting team.”

Dudleys Consulting Engineers has considerable expertise in designing infrastructure works including ports, dockside operations, energy production sites, and aviation.