History of TERRC

William Gray & Company

William Gray and Company were a major ship construction company in Hartlepool who commenced ship building in 1874, based around the Central Dock, Jackson Dock and the Old Harbour of Hartlepool Docks
In 1913, William Gray and Company developed the area of land on the north bank of the Greatham Creek to form a new yard with the capacity to build ships up to 20,000 tons. This was an additional yard to the companies Central Shipyards in Hartlepool and the site was later to be called Graythorp Shipyard.

William Gray constructed ships in the Graythorp yard from 1913 to the closure of the company in 1963 (50 Years). The Central Dock in Hartlepool closed in 1952 followed by the closure of the Hartlepool shipyards and construction was totally moved to the Graythorp Yard.

William Gray and company built a total of 1,309 ships as well as ship and tanker conversions, repairs to damaged vessels and the construction of barges. Of this total, some 493 vessels were completed during 1913 to 1963, many of which were constructed at the Graythorp Yard.

Following the voluntary liquidation of the William Gray Company the contents of the shipyards were sold at auction and the Graythorp yard was put up for sale.

Laing Offshore

Laing Offshore purchased the Graythorp Yard in 1969 and developed the site into a large dry dock for the construction of marine structures including offshore oil and gas platforms and Jackets. In 1970, the dock was extended and dock gates were constructed to form the current dry dock. Laings built 3 offshore jackets from 1970 to 1990 (20 years). The yard was also used for decommissioning works and in 1985 Able Group remediated and recycled on site the Albusk Jell platform, a Norwegian Oil Field production facility.

Able UK Ltd

Able UK Ltd purchased the yard in 1996 with the intention of enlarging and refurbishing the dry dock as the main facility for the Company’s operations of decommissioning marine structures and also as a multi-user facility for the construction of marine structures.

In keeping with the intended use of the site, ABLE renamed the yard TERRC (Teesside Environmental Reclamation and Recycling Centre). Then in 2003, the Company announced the Phase 2 development for the facility, which would see the commencement of refurbishing the dry dock.

Since taking over the Graythorp yard, ABLE have imported, remediated and disposed of marine structures for major Clients such as ExxonMobil, NAM, Phillips Petroleum, Shell, TotalFinaElf and Westminster Dredging. The dock facility has imported rock armour, steel pipes and aggregates.

Economic Impact

Turnover from the site activities since ABLE purchased the site in 1996 is in excess of £30m with a forecast to continue to increase on a yearly basis for the foreseeable future.

Environmental

The history of the Graythorp Yard since the early 1910’s has been one of industrial development living adjacent to the wildlife in the Tees estuary, which has been designated as a SPA and SSSI.

Prior to ABLE commencing operations on site, independent consultants carried out a survey to determine the existing condition of the site, an Environmental Impact Assessment covering all the development and all site activities, also a Regulation 48 Assessments to cover all activities at TERRC. These assessments showed that the works would not be detrimental to the local ecology.

In 1997, ABLE established an environmental monitoring group TEAG (TERRC Ecological Advisory Group) for the TERRC facility. The membership invitation included Able UK Ltd, English Nature, Environment Agency, Hartlepool Borough Council, INCA, RSPB and Tees Valley Wildlife Trust. The Group meets every 3 months and considers if there has been any disturbance during the previous 3 month period and also if any potential impact could be caused by potential future works. The Group then provides appropriate advice.

Since the inception of TEAG in 1997 there has been no significant detrimental effect to the local ecology.

Due to the fact that the activities on the site had no significant environmental impact on the local ecology, it was decided by the Group in 2003 to reduce the meetings to every 6 months.

It is forecast that the refurbishment of TERRC dry dock will ensure that the tradition established by the proud and skilled local workforce as a major contributor to the economy of the area will continue, especially with the multi-user facility providing work in the fields of new construction works and marine structures recycling.