Survey Other Start

In April 2011, Wessex Archaeology undertook an onshore archaeological geophysical survey along the Humber Gateway offshore wind farm’s onshore cable route. Working for E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Humber Wind Ltd and their consultants ERM, the team surveyed approximately 99 hectares distributed along the 30 km export cable corridor from the landfall near Easington to the onshore substation at Salt End. The works included not only the main corridor but also potential rerouting areas, ensuring that any likely deviations from the preferred alignment were also assessed for archaeological sensitivity. This geophysical survey formed a key component of the pre-construction archaeological investigations required by planning conditions for the onshore elements of the project. It followed earlier desk-based and walkover assessments and was designed to identify sub-surface anomalies indicative of archaeological remains, as well as to confirm areas apparently devoid of archaeology. The results fed directly into an agreed evaluation strategy for the cable corridor with the Humber Archaeology Partnership, informing where subsequent trial trenching should be targeted and where a lighter-touch approach might be appropriate. By completing this extensive archaeological geophysical survey before onshore construction commenced, the project team was able to integrate heritage constraints into detailed design and construction planning. This helped to reduce the risk of unexpected discoveries causing delays during construction and supported a programme of targeted mitigation, including later trial trenching and strip-map-and-sample excavations in areas of higher archaeological potential along the Humber Gateway onshore cable route.