Cairnhill Structures

A shout out to one of our group divisions this week, some great photos of a batch of work undertaken for one of our subsea clients. Showing the range of steel plate processing and machining we can cover in house. Dave Masson, Global Energy Groups Managing Director (South Fabrication) said, “GEG would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved at Watson Towers for an excellent performance under extremely challenging deadlines. The attached photographs give you an idea of how all the parts come together and the trial assembly of the completed frame onto a test jig on going as we speak. Thanks again to all the team”. With the arrival of another new and improved, larger Ficep Gemini this month, our capacity and range of steel processing services is set to expand again. Cairnhill, what can we do for you? #steelsolutions

Lights, camera, action, at the recent Somerset Cricket awards dinner in Taunton. 📸 And the young player of the year, Archie Vaughan, from a famous cricketing family was rightly recognised on the night for his outstanding performances this season. The award was presented by our Group Chief Executive, Neil Watson, and announced by Somerset Player Pathway Coach Andrew Griffith. We are proud of our support at the grassroots level of sport and our association with Somerset County Cricket Club is establishing another great partnership. They do so much unseen work within the community, going above and beyond, and the historic club will be celebrating its 150th anniversary next year, a fantastic achievement. We are sure this is the start of something special and everyone here at Cairnhill Structures is right behind you. #steelsolutions

Gold stars all round this week 🤝 Our safety award for their outstanding contribution to the cause goes to one of our apprentice fabricators, John Crumlin. John was rightly recognised and rewarded for his positive safety attitude; to think, stop work, and take a step back. Preventing unsafe situations with the correct action is proved statistically to help reduce injuries, and by taking on the responsibility personally, it goes a long way to keep others around you from being harmed. We think you will agree, John looks rather pleased with his vouchers. These were presented to him after one of our Mental Health & Wellbeing toolbox talks... congratulations again to Mr Crumlin. Look out for each other, and stay safe folks. #steelsolutions

We might be late to the party but Halloween was a huge success at Sun Works with some serious efforts to get into the spooky spirit of things 🎃. Our very own Mariusz Slabkowski A.K.A Mario stole the show for best costume along with some very creepily decorated desks 👻 well done team!! Best part of it was the £££’s raised for SAMH – keep your eyes peeled for the final total next week!

We love a challenge here at Cairnhill Structures and urgent bridge repairs are one of our specialities. Our recent jaunt to sunny Portobello in Edinburgh was a quick turnaround, working day and night to complete a tricky repair on a busy rail route. With inspection complete, all corroded plates were stripped back and removed. Enabling us to complete the welded plate repairs, match marked to fit neatly on site and then painted to provide additional protective coating. All plates were cut in house by our profiling division on our Ficep Geminis. Pat on the back to our site team for their stellar effort and thanks to our client AmcoGiffen, we look forward to working with you again on the next one. #toot-toot 🚂 #steelsolutions

Another good opportunity to meet our team here at Cairnhill Structures. Sean McBride is one of our senior project managers and a rising star within our next generation of engineers. Boasting over 15 years of experience already and leading successful projects across diverse and complex sectors including; high security, defence, nuclear new build, and decommissioning. Sean's career has spanned various roles, including; CNC machine programming, specialist procurement, project programming, and steelwork detailing, showcasing his knowledge and versatility in our industry. In his personal life, Sean has embraced golf over the past year and can often be found practicing his swing while walking the corridors here at Cairnhill Structures… a little more practice is needed we think! Thanks again for your can-do attitude Mister McB, we know you wouldn’t have it any other way. 👏 #steelsolutions #peoplepower

Hands up if you want to help save the planet. 🖐🖐🖐 Our most recent work in the marine sector is the first of its kind, to mobilise and retrofit a rigid sail to an existing vessel and harness the power of the wind. And this is no ordinary sail, it’s a rigid structure akin to an aircraft wing, rather than the traditional sheet of canvas. The ship itself is one of the UK's fleet of three nuclear transport vessels, specially designed to move high-level nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel stored at Sellafield in Cumbria to destinations like Japan under long-standing nuclear decommissioning treaties. Supported by the Department for Transport, the 100m-long Pacific Grebe is now taking part in a two-week trial, it has two hulls, two engines and propellers, and an array of security systems to keep nuclear cargoes safe. Below decks are four radiation-shielded and heat-shielded holds designed to carry tonnes of high-level nuclear waste in specialised steel shipping flasks. But for now, this trial is empty of hazardous cargo. The overall contribution of shipping to global greenhouse gas emissions is expected to grow from 3% share today to 10% by 2050 and there are currently few alternatives to oil-burning engines for most ship types. The hope is that ships fitted with several FastRig sails could see fuel and emissions savings of up to 30%. Cairnhill, what can we do for you? #steelsolutions

Our throwback continues and on this particular day in Leeds, you had no option but to slow down in town! Built-in the 1960s, the Regent Street Flyover was originally constructed from reinforced concrete and had started to deteriorate considerably over many years. The flyover is part of a key transport route through the city, with around 70,000 vehicles using A64(M) and A61 each day. Our task was to manufacture 6 large specially fabricated beams for the new flyover, spliced with 46-meter and 31-meter-long twin plate girders. On-site, the main longitudinal girders were bolted together to form a sub-assembly weighing in excess of 100 tonnes and over 76 m in length. Once the pairs were fabricated, we utilised our in-house paint facility to complete the surface treatment and prepare them for installation. The refurbishment of this vital piece of infrastructure was a major improvement for all who travel through Leeds City Centre. Cairnhill, what can we do for you? Balfour Beatty plc #steelsolutions

The previous government committed to spending 2.5% of the UK GDP on defence, potentially rising to £87 billion per year, and our work within the high-security sector continues with another recent award at Cairnhill. Four new steel Catamarans will be manufactured at our base in Scotland and delivered to their new home, predominantly manufactured from large area plates, with high integrity welding. The large fabrications will be built up on-site, with subsequent quality inspections carried out at our HQ Sun Works. Once completed, the segments will painted and delivered to Renfrew where the new catamarans will be towed via tug boat to HMNB Clyde, at Faslane. The Catamarans will be located on Berth 6, which are used to land nuclear vessels... they are replacing older structures on a like-for-like (design and build) basis, as they eventually reach the end of their working life. Cairnhill, exceeding standards and expectations. #steelsolutions

Happy throwback Friday all, a snapshot back in time 📸 Our work at HMNB Clyde has been ongoing for over a decade and Cairnhill, in conjunction with Graham Construction, were engaged to fabricate, test, surface treat, ship and install four interchangeable floating pontoons located at the base. The pontoons facilitate access both from the quayside via a gangway and from the water side via Tank Transfer Barges. In addition to the compartmental fabrication (primarily in carbon steel) complete with full marine paint system (including non-slip top surface). There was a wide array of engineering elements at play during the construction, including galvanised yoke steel and handrails, stainless steel hinges and pins, cast iron bollards, rubber fenders and aluminium anodes. All plate was cut on our Ficep Gemini profiling centres and manufactured from our main base, with final fit up and shipping from Renfrew. Work commenced on a detailed design in mid-2020 with the pontoons being delivered by tug boat, they were floated up the Clyde in Spring of 2021. Cairnhill, exceeding standards and expectations. #steelsolutions