Underwater activities under controlled conditions

Europe's only indoor heated deepwater tank providing fully secure 24 hour operational facilities

For information on any of these services contact TWI North East
Aurora Court, Barton Road, Riverside Park, Middlesbrough, TS2 1RY
Tel: 01642 210512 Fax: 01642 252218

Underwater facilities

Introduction

TWI Technology Centre (North East), Middlesbrough provides a total support package for the specialist and operational requirements of the sub-sea/offshore industry. This state-of-the-art facility meets the needs of sub-sea/offshore operators, from underwater training and qualification of personnel, to R&D, equipment testing and development, inspection and calibration.

Underwater tank and diver

Diver inspection training and examinations under internationally-recognised industry standards, such as CSWIP and Lloyds.
Equipment development and validation under controlled conditions
Procedural techniques and skill development
ROV trials and operator training
R&D within a controlled underwater environment
Underwater welding

The underwater tank

The tank is the most modern underwater operations centre in the UK.

It is managed by a fully-automated filtration and chlorine dosing system to ensure bacteria free water with exceptional visibility
Water environment can be conditioned to customer requirements e.g. salt water, turbidity and varying light levels
A complete range of underwater NDT equipment is available, including electromagnetic testing apparatus, supported by full NDT facilities within the facility by a three tonne capacity radio controlled 360° crane
Diving plant supports two divers using surface supplied systems via a dive control panel
The diver communications system includes helmet-mounted colour TV with a separate circuit allowing a diving supervisor to monitor and record all underwater operations

The diving system conforms to the Diving Operations at Work Regulations 1997

Specifications

The tank is 8m in diameter and 6.5m deep, with a volume of 318m ³

Hyperbaric facility

BHA category three chamber with 24 hour cover for the treatment of:

Diver's decompression illness (bends)
Omitted decompression
24 hour Bend watch

Response time within 2 hours of call out.

Training and Examination

Details of TWI North East training courses in non-destructive testing - underwater inspection and MMA wet welding. Each outline covers the dates, level, content, duration and objectives of the individual courses.

Available for Hire

The tank can be hired for a number of different uses:

R&D
Sports diving
Filming

R&D

Carry out R&D work and type approval trials for underwater NDT equipment on our unique library of fatigued welded joints and FMD (flooded member detection) samples. Contact twinorth@twi.co.uk to discuss your requirements.

Sports diving

The underwater facilities are available for hire at weekends to run training courses for sports divers and decompression chamber operators. If you would like to hire the tank or chamber to run your own course, please contact twinorth@twi.co.uk for details.

Filming

The tank can be used for underwater filming and photography. Contact twinorth@twi.co.uk for more information.