OSL Delivers the MEP Backbone for a Major Marine Infrastructure Project

At the Port of Tilbury, one of the most distinctive marine infrastructure projects on the Thames is taking shape. Southbay Civil Engineering is delivering a purpose-built dry dock and maintenance facility for Uber Boat by Thames Clippers, creating a new home to service its 24-vessel fleet. OSL Global is alongside them, delivering the mechanical, electrical and MEP design, installation, testing and commissioning that will make the facility work.

With the MEP design now nearing completion and installation and commissioning due to begin in the coming weeks, it is a good moment to look at what the project involves and what it says about where OSL's engineering capability applies.

‍A new home for the Thames Clippers fleet

Uber Boat by Thames Clippers operates one of the busiest passenger fleets on the Thames, and keeping 24 vessels in service demands dedicated maintenance infrastructure. The new facility at the Port of Tilbury answers that need with some serious marine engineering: precast concrete installation, an over-water suspended deck and dock edge capping beams, alongside floating platforms whose temporary works are now being put in place.

Southbay Civil Engineering is leading that heavy marine construction, and watching the project take shape on site, the scale and ambition of the engineering is clear. It is a demanding environment to build in: a live, operational dockside with phased site expansion happening around the works.

OSL's role: the full MEP scope

OSL is delivering the comprehensive MEP works that turn the civil and marine structures into an operational facility. Our scope runs across the full lifecycle, from design development through to installation, testing, commissioning and handover.

The work began where good engineering usually does: with verification. Before design could progress with confidence, OSL carried out ground surveys and buried services verification, reviewing existing records and using non-intrusive detection, including ground penetrating radar, supported by our internally developed virtual reality site assessment software, to confirm the location of buried utilities across the site.

‍From that verified baseline, our engineers have developed detailed mechanical, electrical and public health designs in line with the Employer's Requirements, BIM standards and the project's phased delivery constraints. The scope includes new LV distribution systems, water services, drainage, communications and external services to support the relocated buildings and boat shed facilities.

Power is a particular focus. Site capacity at Tilbury is constrained, so the design incorporates new panel boards, feeder pillars, metering systems and load monitoring arrangements to manage demand intelligently rather than simply adding supply.‍ ‍

OSL is also designing and delivering potable water storage and booster systems, high pressure washdown facilities for vessel maintenance, foul drainage and a pumping station, and fire hydrant infrastructure, all in compliance with WRAS and statutory standards. External lighting, emergency lighting, CCTV, access control and structured data networks complete the picture, integrated with the client's existing systems.‍ ‍

From design to delivery

‍Design is only half the story. Over the coming weeks, OSL moves into the installation and commissioning phase, carrying the same team and the same design knowledge through to delivery. That continuity matters: the engineers who resolved the design constraints are the ones overseeing how the systems go in, are tested and are proven.

Completion of statutory testing, pressure testing, electrical certification, flushing, commissioning and full handover documentation, including O&M manuals and record drawings, will close out the scope, giving the client a facility that is not just built, but verified and ready to operate.

Engineering discipline and interfaces

OSL is well known in the rail industry for signalling, telecoms, electrification and plant, and full-lifecycle systems delivery. Tilbury demonstrates something we have always known: the disciplines that make rail projects succeed are the same ones that make marine, port and utilities projects succeed.‍ ‍

Verified site information before design. Coordinated, standards-compliant design development. Careful management of interfaces with civil engineering partners. Phased delivery in live operational environments. Rigorous testing, commissioning and handover. These are transferable by nature, and projects like Tilbury, alongside our utilities, water, energy and environmental work, show OSL applying them well beyond the railway.

Working with a contractor of Southbay Civil Engineering's calibre on a project of this quality is exactly the kind of partnership we value: each party bringing its specialism, with the interfaces managed properly between them.

Talk to us

If you are planning marine, port, utilities or infrastructure works that need dependable MEP design and delivery, from early surveys through to commissioning and handover, we would be glad to discuss how OSL can help.

Find out more: https://www.oslglobal.com Contact: enquiries@oslglobal.com