Scottish Sea Farms Seafood Hatchery, Shetland, Scotland, UK

Project Overview

Scottish Sea Farms (SSF) has spent £2 million on its Girlsta hatchery in Shetland, including safe GRP access structures to help workers navigate with ease. Formerly Grieg Seafood, this hi-tech salmon hatchery in the Girlsta area of the Shetland Islands is fed by water from the local loch and uses advanced recirculation technology to maximise water efficiency. The facility is where the lifecycle of the salmon begins and is a major economic asset to Shetland’s economy.

Bespoke GRP grating platform for water sampling access.

When tasked with coming up with a solution to allow access to one of the water treatment areas in the Recirculating Aquaculture System, Technical Manager Steven Nicolson turned to Dura Composites.

With over 25 years experience in the Marine industry, Dura Composites was able to work with Steven to devise a bespoke GRP grating platform and safety handrailing system to allow staff to gain access for water sampling and cleaning as well as access and egress when the system was shut down.

As this system is completely unique, it required a custom design and build. Using it’s in-house CAD and Technical team, Dura Composites was able to design an anti-slip, safe and durable solution using its state of the art Glass Reinforced Polymer (GRP) d2 Dura Grating and handrail components.

The patented grating design offers the ultimate in safety and durability for aquatic environments and is a cost-effective alternative to timber platforms which degrade over time – and therefore result in hazardous walking conditions.

If you’re looking for high specification materials with maximum longevity and safety for your marine or aquaculture project, why not get in touch?

I contacted Dean at Dura Composites after viewing their website and gave him the scope of works and specified the load capacity needed for the walkways. The Dura team were very quick to formulate a plan and send through drawings for approval. Once I received delivery of the materials in kit form I could tell immediately that a lot of planning had gone into it, right down to how things were packaged on the pallets. The quality of materials and attention to detail really impressed me. Installation went extremely well and throughout the whole process Dean was on hand to answer any questions we had. He remained in constant communication to see if we needed any assistance and really went the extra mile to ensure everything went smoothly and met my install deadline. I’m looking forward to working with Dean and his team again on future projects.

Steven Nicolson

Technical Manager, Scottish Sea Farms

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