First Flight Wind has appointed Northern Ireland archaeological consultancy Gahan and Long to assess the potential impacts, from an archaeology and cultural heritage perspective, of connecting the offshore wind farm to the Northern Ireland electricity grid network.
Their findings will feed into the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) which will be submitted alongside the consent applications for the proposed offshore wind farm in 2016. They will determine the impacts of the required onshore infrastructure on surrounding archaeological and cultural heritage features.
Gahan and Long will also contribute to the Onshore Scoping Report. Scoping is one of the first stages in the EIA process and determines the issues that will be assessed in the EIA. It is anticipated that the Onshore Scoping Report will be published next spring.
First Flight Wind recently completed its Offshore Scoping Report, which addressed the key issues to be included in the offshore part of the project’s EIA.
Gahan and Long have over 30 years’ experience of providing professional archaeological mitigation to the construction industry specialising in wind energy.
Audrey Gahan commented: “As a Northern Ireland based company we are delighted that First Flight Wind have chosen us to advise on the onshore archaeology. We are delighted to be involved in this project with First Flight Wind and hope that this will be the start of a long and fruitful relationship.”
Andrew Lovell from First Flight Wind said: “We are pleased to award this contract to a Northern Ireland consultancy. Gahan and Long will identify those archaeological or cultural heritage features which will influence the design or siting of the cable corridor routes, the onshore substation or landfall site options which are being developed. I look forward to working with them and progressing the First Flight Wind onshore studies.”