How concrete innovation and serialised production is key to unlocking manufacturing at scale
The bases that support fixed and floating offshore wind turbines are one of the highest value components of a wind farm, second only to the turbine itself. The design, construction and supply of floating platforms alone could add £9.3bn to the UK economy by 20501.
Serialised portside manufacturing of these bases will help the UK to make the most of the significant industrial opportunity while delivering quality, consistency and cost surety at a project level.
“In essence, serialised manufacturing is about producing components in a systematic, repeatable sequence—much like an assembly line—where each unit is built following identical specifications and procedures,” says Liam Forde, Manager – Infrastructure, Built Environment and Sustainability at the Mineral Products Association (MPA).
“With a range of base designs developed, there is a need to allow key technologies to mature and manufacturing capacity to scale up for volume production.
“However, the domestic concrete industry is already demonstrating that it has the manufacturing capability and expertise needed to produce offshore bases at scale.”
Slipform Engineering, a specialist build and design contractor, recently delivered two consecutive reinforced concrete structure programmes, producing nine silos across two sites.
The first project involved the delivery of five digester tanks in Wymington, Bedfordshire for Wykes Engineering, with 3,500m3 of concrete poured over 5.5 days. This was immediately followed by the design and build of an additional four silos at Gladstone Dock in Bootle, Liverpool. The latter programme saw 12,000m3 of concrete poured over a 2.5-week period in a live, industrial port environment.
Both projects used slipforming, a highly efficient production technique where concrete is poured into a continuously moving form. Slipforming is a proven method of producing concrete monolithic structures and therefore well suited to the manufacture of fixed and floating offshore wind bases. These bases are comparable in size to the silos delivered, meaning they could be delivered in a similar timeframe.
Detailed construction sequencing and logistics planning is key to ensure the concrete can be continuously poured at speed.
This included coordinating the reinforcement sequencing across multiple structures at once and timing concrete deliveries from local ready mixed plants to avoid interruptions to the concrete pouring. For offshore wind projects, the opportunity to set up onsite concrete batching plants would facilitate this process and ensure the smooth and timely production of bases.
The Wymington and Bootle projects also required careful consideration of rebar storage and handling areas to avoid a supply bottleneck, especially given the confined footprint of the dock environment.
“The successful delivery of these projects shows how slipforming can be replicated across different sites, constraints and project conditions, making it a promising option for manufacturing concrete offshore wind bases at ports serving the North, Irish and Celtic seas,” adds Liam.
1. UK Floating Offshore Wind (FLOW) Task Force (2025) Floating Wind: Anchoring the next generation offshore