Quarters platform installed

Comprising a four-leg steel jacket, the platform’s support structure was built by Union Industrielle et d’Enterprises (UIE) at Cherbourg in France. But the module support frame was built by UIE’s St Wandrille yard. The three-story quarters modules came from Chantiers de la Garonne in Bordeaux.

The platform was installed on Frigg in the summer and autumn of 1975 by Oceanic Contractors. Towed to the field on the Intermac 600 barge, the jacket was positioned on 16 July and then attached to the seabed by piles.

The module support frame was lifted into place by DB 22 that October. Winter storms prevented more work on the installation until the following May. Temporary accommodation and a temporary helideck were in operation from May 1976 until March 1977.

One of the permanent quarters modules was installed on the ETPM 1601 crane vessel in late October 1976. During this operation, the 90-metre bridge to TP1 was also lifted into place. The other quarters modules with the helideck were hoisted into position on 18 April 1977.

QP was due to stand entirely on the UK side, but 10 metres of one corner came to extend into the Norwegian sector. The two countries nevertheless agreed on a practical boundary in the centre of the bridge between TP1 and TCP2. A sign marked the frontier between Britain and Norway. Because of the boundary, duty-free sales were possible on QP. Taken together, TP1, TCP2 and QP comprised the central field platforms and were also known as the Frigg complex.