Three awards have been made to Portsmouth Naval Base for the investment in facilities essential to the support of the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
Princess Royal and Victory jetties were recognized by Sanctuary magazine judges for their harmonious construction utilizing much of the existing structures and recycling what could not be reused.
The base’s combined heat and power plant received an award for energy efficiency and helping Defence meet its ambition for a net-zero carbon emissions future.
HM Naval Base Commander, Commodore Jeremy Bailey ADC, said: “On behalf of Portsmouth Naval Base, I am delighted to have received three prestigious Sanctuary Awards this year. These three awards, for the Queen Elizabeth class carriers’ jetties and the combined heat and power plant which provides the ships shore-supply electricity, are richly deserved for the impact they have had on the base and the people who made them happen.
“Both were complex schemes which propelled Portsmouth Naval Base forward to meet the challenge of supporting the biggest ships ever built for the Royal Navy and done in such a way which reflected our desire to have a positive impact on the existing environment and reduce our future carbon emissions.”
The jetties project was also winner of the Sustainable Business Award, which is awarded to the best commercial project which delivers sustainable solutions to enable the Armed Forces to live, work or train effectively.
The arrival of the Queen Elizabeth carriers at Portsmouth Naval Base has increased the site's peak electrical demand from 28MW to 56MW, exceeding the overall National Grid capacity on Portsea Island. Delivered by BAE Systems, the 13MW Combined Heat and Power plant, and 3MW large scale battery for back-up, was the best solution for meeting their power demand and was switched on in October 2019, a month before second carrier HMS Prince of Wales was delivered.
Whilst the technology is not ground-breaking, it was successfully integrated into a 60-year-old electrical and steam network at the base and also means a much cheaper source of power at about half the cost of the National Grid supply, saving about £4m already.
Sanctuary Magazine is produced by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and its awards for 2020 were delayed until today (Tuesday). They were co-hosted in a virtual ceremony by Lt Gen Richard Nugee who is leading the review into the way the MOD meets the challenge of conducting all activities in a more sustainable way.
The award judges were also impressed by the construction of the jetties the carriers occupy when they are in Portsmouth. The existing moorings were not capable of supporting two ships of more than 65,000 tonnes, but there was considerable history and perfectly usable material already built into the structure. Parts of it were 90 years old and it also covers a Stuart-era basin.
The design used by the naval base and project partners DIO and Volker Stevin retained 97% of Victory Jetty and 50% of Princess Royal Jetty, with the removed concrete and steel crushed and set for recycling on future projects.
Care was taken to protect the seabed and seawall, and the wider project included networks to deliver the power created halfway across the base in the CHP, 14 solar-powered navigation towers in the harbour, and converters to transform the 50Hz electrical current to the 60Hz which ships operate on.
