Excerpt and Photo from scottishconstructionnow.com
Ground engineering and site investigation company Central Alliance has returned to the Orkney Islands to complete a further ground investigation project to help the islands’ council achieve its renewable energy goals.
In 2023–24, Central Alliance carried out ground investigation work on the Orkney mainland (Quanterness) along with the Island of Hoy as part of the Orkney Islands Council’s Orkney Community Wind Farms project. The team has recently completed further ground investigation work on the Island of Faray.
Central Alliance director Ben Swallow said this project was required to help inform the design of wind turbine bases and associated wind farm infrastructure. The ground investigation work comprised dynamic sample/rotary cored boreholes, trial pits, groundwater monitoring and laboratory testing.
The report that has been compiled for the Orkney Islands Council consists of AGS (Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists – the industry standard) data, which includes the exploratory hole logs, laboratory test data and post-fieldwork groundwater monitoring.
Ben said: “The Island of Faray has been uninhabited since the last farmers and crofters left in the 1940s and is of significant archaeological interest, along with being ecologically sensitive and important. With this in mind, the fieldwork component was carefully aligned with tidal conditions to remain sensitive to grey seal (Faray and Holm of Faray are a Special Area of Conservation to support the grey seal breeding colony) and bird breeding patterns.