PORTUGAL: Marina Vilamoura - behind the build…

Vilamoura Marina officially opened Nova Marina, its new marina basin, in November last year as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations. The marina was built to a challenging deadline (originally set at 16 months and reduced to less than a year) that required rigorous planning and ongoing coordination between floating solutions specialist Lindley, the main contractor Etermar, other service providers and the customer Vilamoura World.

The project stands out for the installation of three new floating quays with 68 berths for vessels of 25 to 55m. This involved the design and manufacture of 104 pontoons built with PFC (Continuous Floating Pontoon) technology in prefabricated steel-reinforced concrete and polystyrene core. The pontoons guarantee high strength, stable freeboard, durability in the marine environment and are prepared for high loading.

To meet the requirements and demands of Vilamoura World and Pódio Navegante, companies of the ARROW group and project developers, the design, manufacture and installation underwent intense detailed work and involved a multidisciplinary team. The following points stand out:

• Minimum 650mm freeboard throughout the new marina: a challenge accomplished by Lindley's engineering team who needed to integrate more than 12,000m of electrical cables and pipes under the deck of the walkways, in addition to the multi-purpose pedestals, mooring bollards, emergency services and other accessories.
• Multi-purpose service points for all moorings, including remote management and monitoring of water and electricity consumption.
• Individual system per pump-out station for sanitary water.
• Floor lighting using high efficiency LEDs.
• Comfortable access systems by means of bridges and gates integrated into the overall architecture of the marina.

The installation activities took place simultaneously with works on the outer jetty and the basin, and the logistics were adapted to minimise the impact in the high tourist season. All activities were planned between the various entities so that the transport and unloading of heavy and oversized parts would be carried out at dawn and/or at the end of the day, to minimise safety risks and not affect visitors, tourists and users of the existing marina. 

Nova Marina is among the most recent projects completed by Lindley, which has delivered over 20,000 linear meters of pontoon infrastructure since 1994.