Multi-Disciplinary Project
In collaboration with ORE Catapult, Building Design Northern (BDN) provided multi-discipline design services for the Digital, Autonomous and Robotics Engineering (DARE) Centre in Blyth. BDN worked in collaboration with main contractor Hall Construction as part of the Design & Build contract for the £3m state-of-the-art DARE centre.
As the first of its kind in the UK, the centre will provide a unique opportunity for developers, researchers and wider industry to test, demonstrate and commercialise innovative digital and robotic products and services for the offshore renewable energy market.
Building Design Northern (BDN), provided Architect, Structural Engineering and Civil Engineering professional services which saw a collaborated detailed design alongside the MEP Engineer and wider construction team. Partially located within a dry dock dating back to the 19th century, the facility required a complex and innovative design solution.The new facility will pave the way for the very latest next-generation technologies being developed for the offshore renewables sector.
Technology tested at the DARE Centre will support the expansion of the offshore wind market and turbocharge the success of services and digital infrastructure surrounding the industry.
The DARE Centre includes a robotics assembly bay, an airborne robotics test zone, three dry docks with 20,000m3 capacity and test control rooms linked to the docks via a live environment monitoring system. The centre is the latest part of ORE Catapult’s National Renewable Energy Centre in Blyth, which offers a wide range of test and validation facilities, including market-leading wind turbine testing and an offshore demonstration zone.