Garrad Hassan has been contracted by EDF Energy to undertake the Front End Engineering Development (FEED) study for a Teesside Offshore Wind Farm off the coast of North East England. The project, when fully operational, could generate enough power every year to supply around 60,000 homes - the approximate combined volume of households in Redcar and Cleveland - with clean energy.

The FEED study is a key stage in the development of such a project, addressing areas of technical uncertainty in all aspects of the project. Included in the scope of the study for Teesside are economic optimisation, planning sequencing of work and determining the best contracting strategy.

Garrad Hassan will be responsible for all areas of the study: project management, wind turbine, layout design and analysis, offshore structures, electrical system and grid connection, O&M, marine installation, cable installation, H&S, risk management and procurement support. Garrad Hassan will be supported in this project by BOMEL Limited.

Teesside Offshore Wind Project Manager, Hugh Yendole, states: "We are pleased to award this contract to Garrad Hassan & BOMEL, who won a close competitive contest. The outputs of the FEED will be very important to guiding the delivery of the Teesside offshore wind farm."

Colin Morgan, Offshore Projects Manager at Garrad Hassan comments on their involvement in the Teesside project:

"FEED studies bring real value to offshore wind projects such as Teesside - resulting in wind farms which are more optimal and generally better thought-through, putting them in the best possible position for proceeding to procurement under tough market conditions for project owners."

The award of this contract confirms Garrad Hassan's position as a leading multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy in the offshore wind sector. Since 2006, the company has completed works on similar FEED studies for other UK offshore wind projects.