Construction firm, R G Carter has recently completed the construction of two new secure inspection facilities for Hutchinson Ports along the East Anglia coast.
R G Carter won the bid to design and construct both secure inspection facilities at two of the UK’s most important ports, Harwich International in Essex, and the Port of Felixstowe, Suffolk, to inspect goods such as fresh produce and plants entering the UK.
Completing the new border control posts at Harwich within 42 weeks, the project was slightly larger in scale, and more complex in design and build compared to the second inspection facility delivered at Felixstowe.
The new site at Harwich is situated close to a newly constructed port exit and features state-of-the-art, steel-framed buildings housing temperature-controlled conditions to maintain ambient, chilled, or frozen temperatures, dependent on the goods being inspected by DEFRA agencies.
With over 100 years of construction expertise, the East Anglian-based construction firm has racked up experience working on the ports and similar projects in the past. One of the key tasks was managing their 200-strong workforce of staff and sub-contractors at Harwich International.
James Wilson, General Manager and Director from R G Carter is delighted to be handing over another successful project to Hutchinson Port, he said: “This has been an exciting and truly collaborative project for us to be involved in and we are delighted to have delivered these essential facilities at these busy regional Ports. We are very proud to see them successfully open for operational use and hope they provide the very highest standards of efficiency required at this important checkpoint.”
The Felixstowe project includes ten dock levellers and two loading bays, both featuring temperature-controlled rooms with commercial fridges and freezers. Both sites at Harwich and Felixstowe include high specification offices and welfare facilities for the Port and DEFRA staff.
The completion of these projects has resulted in significant benefits to each respective Port. The site at Harwich also includes a new exit road which allows freight to access the facility and then exit directly on to the A120, reducing freight congestion and allowing for free-flowing traffic.
