Jack-up barge design & operations

Jack-up barges and self-elevating platforms are unique in their engineering and their operation. We combine structural, mechanical, control-system and marine engineering with years of operational and geotechnical experience to support them across the full spectrum, from small modular units for nearshore geotechnical drilling, through mid-size barges converted for marine construction, to large offshore jack-up vessels on major infrastructure. We work on the hardware and the methodology: a new build, a system upgrade or a site-specific plan to suit a tight weather window.

Barge & platform design and conversion

We design complete jack-up rigs and conversion systems, from reinforcing hulls and pontoons to integrating hydraulic jacking systems and achieving marine-class approval (DNV, Bureau Veritas). We work across vessel scales, including modular self-elevating platforms built from standardised, road-transportable floating modules pin-connected together.

Leg design & structural load cases

We define and analyse the leg structural load cases that size a jacking system – operational, preload, leg-extraction and accidental – working to recognised standards (DNV, Bureau Veritas, ISO 19905, Noble Denton guidelines for elevated operations). We deliver spudcan bearing-capacity and seabed leg-penetration analysis to these standards.

Preloading methodology

We derive and apply the leg-preload case as the governing design condition, the deliberate over-load that proves each foundation before elevating and configure the jacking system to hold and read out preload under control. It ties the structural design to the safe-to-elevate decision.

Site risk assessments for jack-up operations

The safe-to-jack window is site-specific, and we assess it properly. Short-period wind chop behaves very differently from long-period ground swell: with several wave peaks along the hull the heave largely cancels and jacking is possible in larger waves, while a single long-period peak causes a seesawing pitch that amplifies leg loading on landing. We assess wave period and conditions against the system’s limits, quantify how a faster jacking system reduces time in the higher-risk semi-floating phase and support the barge master and jacking engineer with the site-specific risk assessment, working to DNV (including the Noble Denton marine-operations guidelines), ISO 19905 and RenewableUK jack-up guidance.

Operational consultancy

Our team has extensive operational experience. We support barge masters, contractors and asset owners with method statements, mobilisation planning, preload procedures, on-site inspection and function testing, hydraulic condition assessments, hose registers and maintenance plans and equipment-upgrade recommendations and we back it all with engineering judgement.