Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm, situated in the Thames Estuary, close to the Essex coast, is now operational and producing electricity for the national grid. With its commissioning it also means a major milestone has now been reached – the UK has achieved a total offshore wind energy output in excess of 1GW. This is enough renewable energy to provide for 700,000 homes and sees the UK becomes the world leader in this sector.

LDA Design was appointed to undertake successive Seascape and Visual Impact Assessments (SVIA) for both the first and second developments that comprise Gunfleet Sands. The two schemes, consisting of 30 and 18 turbines respectively, generate 172MW of clean renewable energy sufficient to serve 120,000 homes, or approximately 20% of the households in Essex.