A&P

[Western Quay King]

This piece was in todays Northern Echo - http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/busine ... g_hotels_/

Tyne yard wins contract to transform vessels into 'floating hotels'

8:00am Friday 25th May 2012 in North-East Business News Photograph of the Author By Lauren Pyrah, Deputy Business Editor

A CONTRACT to transform two new vessels into "floating hotels" for offshore engineers has been won by a North-East ship yard.

A and P Group's Tyne yard at Hebburn will create the accommodation blocks for global oil and gas company Talisman Energy which will enable workers to walk to work on gangways over the North Sea's choppy waters.

The contract involves fitting steel decks, platforms and gangways onto the Reef Despina and Reef Larissa, which will be anchored alongside rigs in the Montrose and Auk oil fields, 100 miles east of Aberdeen, so the men can live on board and make the short walk across the gangways, over the waves to the rig.

Production Director Darren Brown said: "In simple terms, there will be a deck put on and a gangway installed, which will be used to get on and off the rig.

"The men will eat and sleep on the ship, then get up and walk to the workface.

"They're like floating hotels, with up to 50 service engineers living on each vessel."

The construction of the decks will involve 28 tonnes of steel, with a further ten tonnes for the platforms and walkways. A team of 50 are working around-the-clock on each 98.6 metre long vessel, berthed at Bede Quay, and the job should be complete in three weeks.

Mr Brown added: "Talisman naturally want the work completed as quickly as possible, chartering these vessels is expensive, so it's a very intense job.

"Talisman are a new client and this is a valuable order. It gives us the chance to prove ourselves to them and if they are happy with the quality, the safety and the cost, hopefully we'll win repeat business."