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SPS
news
WINTER 2007/8
SPS - Forging into
new markets and
territories
2
SPS Overlay offers
equivalence on
IMO regulations
New Singapore
office opens
Rock-solid
reinforcements
3
7
7
Ascot backs
a winner 4
2 OVERVIEW 3 SPS OFFSHORE 4 CIVIL ENGINEERING 6 SPS OVERLAY 8 SHIPBUILDING

2 OVERVIEW
SPS - A catalyst for
wide-scale innovation
SPS Terraces under construction at Ascot
The Sandwich Plate System (SPS) is now
enjoying rapid growth in the established
market of ship repair and conversion. We
are also making great strides in introducing
SPS to new markets in civil engineering and
proving more applications in the shipbuilding
and offshore sectors. Let me highlight some
of the milestones that have been achieved in
recent months.
We are delighted to have completed
a major project at Ascot Racecourse,
in which SPS Terraces were used to
re-profile the lower grandstand. The
success at Ascot was followed by
a report from consulting engineers
Mott MacDonald, undertaken with the
assistance of leading stadia architects
HOK Sport, which concludes that the
weight and schedule savings available
using SPS Terraces can reduce the cost
of this element of a project by 30%.
SPS Floors were the subject of a second study
by consulting engineers Arup and quantity
surveyors Gardiner & Theobald. This shows
that using SPS Floors can reduce the overall
weight of a typical high-rise steel-framed
building by 40%, shorten the build programme
by 15% and make it possible to add more
floors. The economic benefit is as much as
10% of the overall build cost, increasing to
20% where additional floors can be included.
Prefabricated SPS Terraces and SPS Floors
are compatible with the modern trends toward
off-site production and steel-framed structures.
The engineering and economic benefits are
clear and we are ready to produce at scale.
SPS Terraces are available today and we
expect to roll out SPS Floors early next year.
We are pleased to announce the
establishment of a subsidiary, SPS Overlay
Asia Pte., which Denis Welch will manage
from his new base in Singapore. We are
doubling the volume of business in ship
repair year-on-year with much of this arising
in South East Asia. In a related strategic
thrust, we have completed our first five ship
repair projects in China.
In a development that will bring benefits
to both offshore and newbuilding, a
recently completed study has proven
that SPS Overlay offers a substantially
better solution for strengthening the side
shells of single-hulled FPSOs. Carried
out jointly with Monaco-based Single
Buoy Moorings and overseen by the
American Bureau of Shipping, the study
concludes that the SPS-CDS (Compact
Double Shell) solution offers superior
impact resistance. The use of SPS has
been approved by the major classification
societies as compliant with the IMO’s
MEPC Circular 406 and the economic
benefits have been verified by Keppel.
In the shipbuilding sector, we have made
important advances in the verification
of connection details and construction
techniques. These include the completion of
a mock-up of a quarter section of the tank of
a chemical carrier built in Europe and a liftable
deck for a car carrier built at DSME Shipyard
in Korea. These projects confirm that SPS
can be incorporated into existing designs and
can be carried out efficiently using existing
shipyard facilities. Both projects are now
moving on to commercial applications.
On the corporate front, I am very
pleased to welcome Joanne Curin to the
management team and board of IE as
Chief Financial Officer. Jo has been CFO
of two major public companies (P&O
and Lend Lease) and brings a wealth of
experience and contacts to all areas of
our business.
We also welcome three new Advisory Board
members, Dr Peter Cheng, Sir Frank Lampl
and Dr Tom Murray. Dr Cheng runs a naval
architecture and marine consulting business
based in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Sir Frank
is a former President of Bovis Lend Lease.
Dr Murray is a professor of engineering at
Virginia Tech.
The last year has seen some dramatic
results in the take-up of SPS in established
applications, such as SPS Overlay, and in
the introduction of new ones, such as SPS
Terraces and SPS Floors. SPS has been
called “the first new materials technology
for heavy engineering in 150 years” and,
in the early days, it was said that owners
and professionals in the maritime and civil
engineering industries were too conservative
to take on new ideas. It seems this is
not true after all. I look forward to doing
business with you.
Michael Kennedy
CEO, Intelligent Engineering

SPS OFFSHORE 3
FPSO major steel repairs
Perenco’s FPSO Conkouati underwent repairs whilst
on-station off the coast of the Republic of Congo
A recent FPSO repair off the coast of
West Africa has once again demonstrated
the versatility of SPS Overlay and its
scope for offshore repairs in situ.
Perenco’s FPSO Conkouati, originally
a single-hulled 1973-built 232,918 dwt
VLCC, has had hull repairs successfully
completed whilst in operation at the
Yombo field, 60 miles off the coast of
Point Noire in the Republic of Congo.
FPSOs present a range of repair challenges
to their operators, not least the fact that they
are intended to remain on station and in
production continuously. Conventional steel
repair procedures are often not appropriate
or practical for such repairs but SPS Overlay,
with both low-heat and no-heat options, is
quickly catching on as a flexible alternative.
A total of 598m 2 of SPS Overlay was used in
two places on board the FPSO Conkouati.
Four areas of side shell vulnerable to
impact damage where huge fenders are
lowered when vessels come alongside were
strengthened on the port side. And SPS
Overlay was also used to reinforce areas
of the bottom shell in number five port and
starboard cargo tanks.
Miss Klervi Keryhuel, a Marine
Engineer from Perenco commented,
“SPS Overlay was a good choice for
us. The repairs were not intrusive and
were carried out on station whilst
normal operations on board continued.
The equipment used for the job was
small and portable and meant that
its movement did not cause major
inconvenience or involve many people.
The work is now finished with
excellent results.”
Denis Welch, Director SPS Overlay said,
“We’ve been doing more and more FPSO
repairs recently. SPS Overlay speeds up
and simplifies repairs and we’re seeing
a growing forward book of new FPSO
business. The Conkouati was a great
project for us with SPS Overlay being used
for reinstatement, strengthening and impact
protection. The Perenco team were great to
work with.”
SPS Overlay offers equivalence
on IMO side impact regulations
Following a study commissioned by
Single Buoy Moorings and subsequent
approval from leading classification
societies for the use of SPS Overlay to
protect the side shell structure of singleskinned
FPSOs, Intelligent Engineering is
gearing up for new orders.
Lloyd’s Register, American Bureau of Shipping
and Det Norske Veritas have all signed
off on the procedure which meets IMO’s
MEPC Circular 406, dated November 2003,
regarding the ability to withstand low impact
collision damage, and offers a range of
other benefits too.
Now, FPSO hulls can be strengthened
using SPS Overlay on the side-shell. The
resulting structure is stronger, more resistant
to puncture and provides better fatigue
resistance than conventionally strengthened
side-shell panels.
Until now, impact resistance has been
improved by installing cofferdams inside the
hull in the vulnerable side shell area. But
this is time-consuming, expensive and gives
rise to significant life-time inspection and
maintenance requirements.
The superior properties of SPS Overlay more
than meet the IMO requirements and make
side-shell strengthening a much easier and
cheaper process. Conversion and life-cycle
costs are therefore reduced as a result.
Deadweight is also reduced.
“The SBM study has confirmed what we
already knew,” says Martin Brooking,
Intelligent Engineering’s Engineering &
Design Director. “Now we can offer FPSO
operators a significantly more effective way to
strengthen side-shells. It is a quicker, cheaper
and altogether more effective solution. There
are significant implications for other ship
types too,” he says. “These findings pave
the way for other cost-effective solutions
to protect against collision or grounding
damage, for example, or provide additional ice
strengthening.”
SPS Overlay can protect the side-shell of singleskinned
FPSOs

4 CIVIL ENGINEERING
Winner at Ascot
A series of improvements to the new
grandstand at Ascot Racecourse have
been completed using SPS Terraces,
a new product designed and patented
for both the new construction and
expansion of sports stadia. The Ascot
alterations, which improve sight lines
by increasing the rake and elevation
of the terraces, have involved the
manufacture of 3,250m 2 of SPS Terraces
for installation in two sections.
The lower section, comprising 2,600m 2 of
continuous standing terracing, has been
constructed with 10.5m long SPS sections
supported on steel rakers. The upper section,
which is made up of 25 separate units
incorporating a variety of standing, seating,
loge and disabled areas, is supported on a
steel sub-frame clad in aluminium.
The SPS Terraces were fabricated by Eiffel
Deutschland Stahltechnologie (EDS), IE’s
German production partner, whilst the
supporting steelwork was supplied and
installed by MAPSSS.
Architects, engineers and contractors are
finding three key benefits of using SPS
Terraces. Firstly, they are less than one
quarter of the weight of concrete terraces
and typically reduce the necessary weight
of the supporting structure by over 30%.
Secondly, they are three to four times faster
to erect as they are lifted in banks of multiple
terraces. Finally, they significantly enhance
the architectural finish of the stadium.
At Ascot, these weight savings meant the
new SPS Terraces have been built on top of
the existing structure, without the need for
removal or reinforcement. A key requirement
was a short build schedule, dovetailing neatly
with a broader construction programme and
incorporating three race meetings within the
three month build schedule.
Charles Barnett, Chief Executive, Ascot
Racecourse, commented “There is no
doubt that SPS Terraces provided the
right solution for our tight timetable. IE
and its partners delivered all that we were
looking for. We are impressed with the
high quality finish and performance of
the SPS Terraces and delighted that they
met with the approval of our customers at
Royal Ascot this year. With such obvious
speed and quality advantages, SPS
Terraces must have a strong future in the
stadium industry.”
IE Management Team and Advisory Board, Ascot Racecourse - Left to Right: Dr. Neil Little, John Ferguson,
Dr Stephen Kennedy, Dr Roger Dorton, Sir Frank Lampl, Martin Brooking, Stuart Rolland, Jake Ulrich, John
Redwood, Denis Welch, Prof Chengi Kuo, Dr Tom Murray, Dr Laurie Kennedy, Jeremy Lloyd, Guy Turner, Dr David
Wilbraham, Dr Doug Wright, Sir Bruce MacPhail, Dr Peter Cheng, Michael Kennedy. Absent: Sir John Parker,
Nicholas Lykiardopulo, George Blake, Tim Kennedy, Jo Curin
The erection of the SPS Terraces used
conventional construction techniques but,
with fewer lifts and reduced loads, the
schedule was significantly faster. At Ascot,
the speed of SPS Terrace installation was
well-proven, with a three-man steel crew
and mobile crane achieving build rates of
seventeen 10.5m terraces in under four hours.
Further benefits of the new product include
its appearance. It can be delivered with
appropriate fittings, in any colour, giving
architects freedom to continue their chosen
colour scheme throughout the terraces,
and avoiding the dirty grey of concrete.
Factory-applied non-slip surfaces make
SPS Terraces safer in the wet whilst
improved water-tightness provides stadium
owners with more flexibility on the use of
space below.
Guy Turner, IE Civil Engineering Director, said:
“The physical properties of SPS Terraces are
undoubtedly superior to conventional
materials, with speed, weight and finish
offering notable advantages. SPS Terraces
now offer a cost-effective and winning
alternative to concrete structures.”
A bank of SPS Terraces being lifted into position

CIVIL ENGINEERING 5
Prefabricated units delivered on trucks
Installation uses conventional connection details
All fittings easily accommodated
Non-slip coating on tread
New solution for a growing
global market
New stadiums are a growth industry. As
our leisure time increases so does our
need for sports and concert venues. Sports
clubs especially are being driven to replace
or expand their existing venues. At the same
time, governing bodies are requiring higher
standards before allowing major events to
be held at venues. Recent reports from
Deloitte & Touche and others indicate that
new venues can deliver an increase of over
50% in annual revenues by increasing gates
and adding facilities. However, projects still
face tight budgets and, with off-seasons
getting shorter, contractors are being pushed
to fit builds into ever tighter schedules.
A recently completed independent report
shows that SPS Terraces can offer projects
significant economic and schedule savings to
help owners meet this challenge. The report
complied by HOK Sport, Mott MacDonald
and Franklin Andrews, represents some of the
leading global experts in stadium architecture,
engineering and economics.
The report assessed the benefits of using
SPS Terraces instead of concrete terraces
for a generic 40,000 seat steel framed
football stadium in the UK. After detailed
analysis, based on a grid using typical
7.65m spans, they concluded that the
weight of frame could be reduced by
38% and the project schedule by over
10%. This resulted in a saving of over
£2.2m, or 16%, on an overall terracing
cost of £14m. When a 15.3m span solution
was considered, this saving increased
to £5.5m, or 31%, on an overall cost of
£17.7m. In addition, the cost of concrete
terraces goes up as the span increases
whereas the cost of SPS Terraces remains
broadly constant. The longer span SPS
solution is therefore less expensive than
the shorter span concrete.
“This report confirms the significant economic
and programme benefits that projects can
secure by incorporating SPS Terraces into
their designs.” says Guy Turner, IE Civil
Engineering Director. “When combined with
the simplicity and enhanced architectural
finish demonstrated by our recent project at
Ascot, it is easy to see why SPS Terraces are
generating so much interest.”

6 SPS OVERLAY
Stronger
decks for
car carriers
Global vehicle distributor and logistics
firm Wallenius Lines needed additional
flexible cargo capacity on board three of
its car carriers to enable them to handle
growing volumes of increasingly important
“high and heavy” cargo – trucks, tractor
units and construction plant.
An innovative project to lengthen the 5,873-
car sister ships Don Carlos, Don Quixote
and Don Pasquale by inserting a new
28m midbody section provided the ideal
opportunity to strengthen a 2,000m 2 area of
the ships’ main decks, to give greater loading
flexibility. The conversions, undertaken at
Hyundai Vinashin in Vietnam, resulted in each
vessel having capacity to carry approximately
20% more cargo including a much larger
proportion of high and heavy units.
Work on board the three ships was
undertaken consecutively at the Vietnam
facility but V Ships’ SeaSquad riding squads
prepared the vehicle carriers during their
repair voyages by blasting, cleaning and
preparing steel for SPS Overlay. This took
Don Pasquale (above) - one of the three Wallenius Wilhelmsen vessels to undergo deck strengthening
pressure off the yard and helped project
managers stick to the tight 38-day timetable.
IE’s licensee Keppel supported IE’s project
management team and provided extra
injection engineers, whilst Hyundai Vinashin
itself carried out the necessary steel work,
incorporating many thousands of deck
fittings. In the event, steel work and elastomer
injection were completed in about 15 days
on each ship, well within the critical path and
a fraction of the time that would have been
required for conventional steel work.
In a total of 105 days, the company has
significant additional cargo capacity. And,
with extra deck strength as a result of SPS
Overlay, the three ships are now capable
of carrying significantly heavier cargo.
This has been achieved at a fraction of
the price of a new ship and about three
years sooner. SPS Overlay was a key
element of the project, combining speed,
extra strength and versatility.
Anytime, any place, anywhere
repair yards – Yiu Lian, Cosco Guangzhou
and Cosco Zhoushan respectively.
The significance of these first Chinese repairs
is notable. Even with repair yards full to
bursting, steel rates in China are amongst
the cheapest in the world. Yet the economics
of SPS Overlay repairs still offer a convincing
price-competitive outcome whether in the
low-cost yards of the Chinese mainland or in
the high cost facilities of northern Europe.
SPS Overlay licensee, SMT, has now reinstated the tank tops of three of its fleet in China
Intelligent Engineering’s China debut
in early 2007, with three handymax
bulk carrier projects, was another key
step in establishing the indisputable
economics of SPS Overlay for steel
reinstatement and strengthening.
All three contracts were for cargo hold tank
top reinstatement. Spar Three and Spar
Topaz are operated by Hong Kong based
Fleet Management, whilst the third vessel,
Dipper, is owned by SPS Overlay licensee,
SMT. Work was carried out at three separate
Denis Welch, SPS Overlay Director, explains:
“We offer substantial time savings as
compared with conventional crop-and-replace
repair techniques. That means that yards
have much more scope to make better
use of their existing facilities. SPS Overlay
repairs are faster and ships are in and out
more quickly,” he says. “The yard raises its
productivity by increasing its throughput.
Furthermore, we use a fraction of the labour,
allowing yards to have more work on the go
at any one time.”

SPS OVERLAY 7
IE opens new
Asian subsidiary
IE has established a new Far East
subsidiary which Denis Welch, SPS
Overlay Director, is managing from his
new Singapore base. With SPS Overlay
business doubling year-on-year, and
much of it coming from SE Asia, this
move provides IE with an excellent centre
from which to service this growth. It
also enables IE to support its most
established licensee, Keppel Offshore
and Marine.
Welch commented, “Asian yards are
struggling to keep pace with ship repair
demand. Due to SPS Overlay’s speed and
efficiency, it is now being recognised as
a means of improving productivity and
yard throughput. With five projects now
completed in China, we’ve shown how
it can match the price of conventional
steel repair and anticipate more and more
projects will be completed there.”
SPS Overlay Asia Pte Ltd,
1 Maritime Square #09-59,
Harbourfront Centre, Singapore 099253.
Tel: +65 6513 2782.
Deck strengthening of Van Oord’s special service
vessel, Jan Steen, at Pan United Shipyard, Singapore
Rock-solid reinforcement
High impact resistance, durability
and the superior performance of SPS
Overlay were key considerations in
the decision by the Ras Laffan Joint
Venture (RLJV) to reinforce a 2,158m 2
area of deck aboard the barge Labroy
237, currently on charter as a floating
jetty at the vast $2bn Ras Laffan Port
Expansion project in Qatar.
The RLJV, comprising Jan de Nul Dredging
Ltd and Boskalis Westminster ME Ltd, uses
the barge as a platform over which some of
the world’s largest earth-moving vehicles shift
millions of tonnes of material from shore to
side stone dumping vessels engaged on land
reclamation works offshore.
Conventional deck protection was not
sufficient to withstand the gruelling routine
and specifically the high point loads of
the mobile plant. RLJV’s challenge was
to distribute wheel loads and prevent the
possible shredding of heavy plant tyres by
steel reinforcement bars exposed as the
concrete deck disintegrated under load
“We had to find a rapid solution
to strengthen the barge and avoid
problems like plant damage,” explains
RLJV Technical Superintendent
Rene Verbrugge. “SPS Overlay has
earned an excellent reputation for
its impact resistance, durability
and overall performance. It was an
Top plates being lowered into position on board the Labroy 237 barge at Arab Heavy Industries, Ajman UAE
obvious solution which could be swiftly
implemented.”
SPS Overlay’s high impact and puncture
resistance is already well tried and tested.
SPS Overlay Director Denis Welch points
out that the deck of the Van Oord-owned
specialist rock dumper Jan Steen,
strengthened in 2004, shows virtually no
signs of distress despite the fact that the
vessel has carried millions of tonnes of
quartz rock over the last three years.

8 SHIPBUILDING
SPS new construction
a step closer
IE and DSME have completed the first
phase of a joint industry project aimed
at developing production techniques.
This first project involved the design
and construction of a liftable car deck
as would be used on a Pure Car Carrier
(PCC). At the beginning of the project
IE delivered a full technical workshop
to DSME staff including representatives
from R&D, hull basic design and
production teams. IE and DSME then
worked together on the design and
construction of a mock up section of the
deck, which was subjected to static and
dynamic load tests to calibrate against
the design calculations and analysis. The
collaborative work continues and future
components will include light-weight
car decks, accommodation blocks, tank
tops and hatch covers.
Completed SPS liftable car deck undergoing testing at DSME Shipyard
Further newbuild opportunities
Mock-up of SPS specialised chemical tanker section
showing typical connection details
A quarter section of the cargo tank of a
specialised chemical tanker with double
bottom has now been successfully
completed, bringing the construction of
an SPS-hulled inland waterway tanker
a step closer. Built in consultation with
Germanischer Lloyd and major European
shipping operator, Reederei Jaegers, the
objectives were to verify panel fabrication
methods, to test all connection details and
joints, and to verify that minimum
deformation occurred.
The project has provided a valuable insight
into this and future SPS newbuild projects.
The next phase includes revisiting the tanker’s
design in light of what has been learnt before
moving on to build a full-size structure.
Contact Details
Intelligent Engineering (UK) Ltd
Shire House, West Common, Gerrards Cross,
Buckinghamshire, UK. SL9 7QN.
Tel: +44 1753 890 575
Fax: +44 1753 899 056
Intelligent Engineering (Canada) Ltd
14 Chamberlain Avenue (Suite 300),
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. K1S 1V9.
Tel: +1 613 569 3111
Fax: +1 613 569 3222
Intelligent Engineering (USA)
2600 South Gessner, Suite 504
Houston, TX 77063-3270, USA.
Tel: +1 713 974 0186
Fax: +1 713 789 1347
SPS Overlay Asia Pte Ltd
1 Maritime Square #09-59,
Harbourfront Centre,
Singapore 099253, Singapore.
Tel: +65 6513 2782
Fax: +65 6513 2784
General Enquiries:
Tel: +44 1753 890 575
enquiries@ie-sps.com
Civil Engineering: Guy Turner
Tel: +44 8707 104 201
turner@ie-sps.com
Ship Repair and Offshore: Denis Welch
Tel: +44 8707 107 184
welch@ie-sps.com
Shipbuilding: Martin Brooking
Tel: +44 8707 104 202
brooking@ie-sps.com
Ship Repair and Offshore (Americas):
James Bond
Tel: +1 847 232 9338
bond@ie-sps.com
www.ie-sps.com