Wallingford-based marine survey specialist Fugro is gearing up to expand its geotechnical work at the Dogger Bank South (DBS) offshore wind farms, with a new contract focusing on the project’s eastern array.
Set to begin in mid-May, the campaign will mobilise several survey vessels 122 kilometres off England’s northeast coast to gather critical seabed data. The work is part of a broader initiative led by developers RWE and Masdar to deliver up to 3 GW of offshore wind capacity—enough to power approximately 3 million UK homes.
The fieldwork will include cone penetration tests (CPTs), vibrocores, and borehole sampling to inform foundation design, cable routing, and platform placement. To push through deep seabed layers with greater efficiency, Fugro will deploy its proprietary SEACALF® MkV Deep Drive® system. This technology is designed to improve data accuracy and speed up survey operations while minimising environmental impact.
The company also plans to integrate its VirGeo® cloud-based platform for data sharing, offering a single digital source for all stakeholders to access updated geo-data in real time.
Colin McAllister, Development Project Lead for the DBS project, said: “This year’s site investigation at the eastern array builds upon similar work completed at the western array in 2024. The level of detail obtained from these surveys is crucial in developing the most effective foundation designs for each location.”
This marks another chapter in Fugro’s ongoing involvement in DBS. The firm previously carried out shallow and deep geotechnical surveys across the western section and the export cable route, laying the groundwork for the next phase of development.
John ten Hoope, Fugro’s Regional Business Line Director for Marine Site Characterisation in Europe and Africa, noted the trust placed in the company’s capabilities: “Our detailed geotechnical investigations will provide a comprehensive understanding of the seabed conditions, crucial for the project’s success.”
For the offshore wind sector, where risk mitigation and design precision are key, these data-driven insights serve as the foundation—literally and figuratively—for ensuring long-term reliability and cost efficiency.
