BAM Nuttall Ltd has just announced that all 20 steel frames for the new Rothera Wharf in Antarctica are now in place.
According to the company, in just 15 months BAM together with their partners Ramboll and Sweco have decommissioned the old wharf and installed all the new frames.
Every frame is 80 meters across and 10 meters wide and needs to be installed accurately, with only 40 millimeters of tolerance. With all the new frames being put in the place, the wharf’s skeleton will now be backfilled with rock.
Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest and windiest place on Earth. Construction is challenging and can take place during a short period in the austral summer (November to May).
Once complete, the new 74-meter long wharf will be larger and deeper than the previous one, able to accommodate the new polar research vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough that will come into operation in 2020.