Utility industries have unique challenges and opportunities, as their vital infrastructure relies on estuary, coastal, and marine environments. With climate change and extreme weather events intensifying, these challenges are evolving into more complex and urgent obstacles – demanding increasingly innovative solutions and resilience.

We support planning, design and consenting for stakeholders across the utility industry, including:

• Water companies
• Telecommunications
• Power station operators, including thermal, nuclear, battery energy storage systems
• Marine renewable energy providers
• Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)

Achilles UVDB Verified in recognition of our high standards of service delivery, we support coastal and marine utilities projects at all stages of the lifecycle:

• Feasibility and site assessment
• Environmental Impact Assessment
• Design, build and O&M

Reducing risk and unlocking potential through feasibility and site assessment

Successful utility projects begin with a strong foundation— robust feasibility and site assessment process. By addressing key stages with precision, we help developers navigate complexities and minimise risks, ensuring streamlined project delivery:

Our comprehensive approach includes:

Strategic site selection and characterisation

Identifying the ideal location for critical infrastructure is pivotal. Our experts analyse metocean, geophysical, geotechnical, and environmental data to identify sites that align with engineering and environmental requirements.

We also support utility companies by identifying preferred cable and pipeline route corridors, providing marine insights for options appraisal, and guiding route optioneering with detailed desktop studies.

Feasibility and constraints analysis

Unlock opportunities while avoiding roadblocks. With a deep understanding of environmental constraints, legal frameworks, and policy requirements, our team delivers multi-criteria analyses that inform smart decision-making. We ensure every step reduces the risk of consenting challenges and streamlines project approval.

Survey specification, deployment, collection, processing and management

A successful site assessment is built on accurate, comprehensive data. We provide end-to-end survey solutions, including hydrographic, metocean, ecological, environmental, geophysical, and topographic surveys.

From specifying survey criteria to deploying expert client representatives in the field, we ensure every survey operation is safe, efficient, and delivers actionable insights.

Let us help you navigate marine challenges with confidence. Our expertise ensures your project starts strong, stays on track, and achieves success with minimal risk.

Expert support for seamless Environmental Impact Assessment

When planning offshore, coastal, or submarine developments, a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is essential for success. Our team provides expert guidance and support at every stage of the EIA process, ensuring compliance, mitigating risk, and streamlining development.

Our EIA expertise includes:

Marine licence and consent applications

Navigating the complex landscape of marine and coastal regulations is no small task. With extensive experience in national and international policy, we guide developers and regulators toward sustainable solutions for offshore and coastal areas, ensuring a smooth path to consent.

Stakeholder engagement

Building consensus among stakeholders is critical to a successful application. Our skilled team facilitates meaningful communication with all interested parties, fostering collaboration and reducing risks throughout the consenting process.

Discharge of consent conditions

Environmental consents often come with conditions that must be met before or during project execution. From monitoring requirements to compliance registers, we help clients efficiently discharge these conditions, ensuring smooth operations and full compliance with development controls.

Habitat compensation and mitigation

Protecting and restoring natural ecosystems is central to the EIA process. Our specialists design innovative solutions to avoid, mitigate, and compensate for ecological impacts, delivering Environmental Management and Monitoring Plans that align with regulatory requirements and sustainability goals.

Post-consent survey

Validating conditions and assessing impacts post-consent is essential to maintaining compliance and project integrity. Our team provides expert survey services to verify the development’s adherence to environmental requirements.

Partner with us to navigate the EIA process with confidence. Together, we will ensure your project meets every requirement and achieves success while safeguarding the environment.

Design, build and O&M: engineering success through scientific insights

The design and operation of marine infrastructure rely on a deep understanding of site-specific metocean conditions, including waves, tides, and sediment transport. These factors influence safety, operational efficiency, and project costs, making them critical to every stage of development.

With a proven track record, we provide essential support to engineering consultancies, renewable developers, utility companies, and contractors. From power station and utility intakes to offshore wind farms and cable routes, our expertise in marine and coastal design conditions drives innovative and sustainable solutions.

Numerical modelling: simulating the marine environment

Numerical modelling is a powerful tool that predicts the physical and dynamic properties of the marine environment, providing essential insights for infrastructure design.

Our team is renowned for extensive expertise in marine numerical modelling, backed by calibration data from our in-house surveyors. These models represent conditions in two or three dimensions and can be coupled where needed to provide comprehensive analyses.

Our modelling capabilities include:

• Spectral wave modelling: Regional and local assessments to derive operational and extreme wave criteria, evaluate wave climate impacts, and hindcast for specific periods or long-term durations.
• Hydrodynamic and sediment transport modelling: Predicting currents, flows, and water levels with precision. Coupled with sediment transport modules, we assess erosion and accretion patterns and infrastructure effects on sediment transport.
• Sediment dispersion, thermal plume and water quality studies: Replicating the dispersion properties of sediments, heat and chemical constituents, we support the design of coastal infrastructure such as utility and power station intakes, outfalls, and marina developments.
• Coastal evolution modelling: Using wave and hydrodynamic data to predict shoreline and coastal changes in one and two dimensions.

Our numerical models offer critical insights, ensuring robust designs and informed decision-making.

Extremes and joint probability analysis

Understanding operational and extreme metocean conditions is fundamental to the safe and cost-effective design, operation, and maintenance of marine and coastal infrastructure.

With 75 years of experience, we deliver reliable operational and extreme condition assessments tailored to project needs. Our consultants leverage advanced methodologies to determine extreme wave and water levels for design and overtopping studies.

Our univariate and joint probability extremes analyses are underpinned by up to 40 years of in-house regional hindcast data or bespoke local modelling. Our extreme wind and current analysis provide robust data of site-specific conditions and our comprehensive meteorological data includes sea water. These data and analyses support the development of resilient and efficient designs, from project feasibility to design certification.

Empowering your marine infrastructure projects: from modelling complex hydrodynamic processes to predicting extreme conditions, our team equips you with the insights needed to design infrastructure that performs safely, sustainably, and efficiently in the most challenging marine environments.

Ready to speak to one of our specialists about your requirements? Get in touch.