The project now has a legal home: a company limited by guarantee, with no shareholders, no distributable profit, and objects that commit it to the North Sea.
Legal Identity
A project of this scale eventually has to sign things. Grant agreements, research commissions, memoranda with port authorities and universities, the hosting contract for a summit: all of them need a legal person on the other side of the signature, and an individual with a good idea is not one.
Nieuw Doggerland Foundation Limited is that person. It is a private company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, company number 17403909, incorporated on 17 August 2026. It is the standard British vehicle for a non-profit body: no share capital, no owners to enrich, and a constitution that locks its income to its purpose.
The choice of form is deliberate. A company limited by guarantee can hold funds, employ people, own intellectual property and enter contracts across borders, while its Articles make it structurally incapable of paying a profit to anyone. Institutional funders and government departments recognise the shape immediately, which matters when the ask is a feasibility study rather than a donation.
The Objects
Article 3 of the Articles of Association sets out five objects. They are the legal limit of what the Foundation may spend money on, and they are the reason the word "Foundation" is in the name: Companies House tests that claim before it grants it.
To promote, research, advocate for, and facilitate the development of sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy, marine biodiversity restoration, and cross-border economic connectivity between the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and other North Sea nations.
To advance public understanding of the historical, archaeological, ecological, and strategic significance of the Dogger Bank and its surrounding North Sea environment.
To foster cooperation between governments, scientific institutions, engineering organisations, and civil society in pursuit of long-term North Sea infrastructure and environmental goals.
To organise, host, or support conferences, summits, publications, and research programmes in furtherance of those objects.
To do all such other lawful things as are incidental or conducive to the attainment of the above objects.
The Constitution
The Foundation has no share capital and issues no shares, so there is no stake to buy, sell or inherit. Members guarantee £1 each towards the company's debts if it is ever wound up, and that pound is the whole of their financial exposure and the whole of their financial interest.
Article 4 applies the Foundation's income and property solely to the objects. No dividend, bonus or profit may pass to any member or director, directly or indirectly. Reasonable pay for work actually done and reimbursement of proper expenses are permitted; extraction is not.
Article 9 governs the end as firmly as the beginning. If the Foundation is ever wound up, whatever remains after debts goes to another institution with similar objects, chosen by the members. Nothing returns to the people who put it in.
"We are not proposing a political project. We are proposing a practical one: built on engineering, ecology, and the straightforward observation that the North Sea's nations share problems that none of them can solve alone."
Funding
The Foundation intends to fund its work through grants, donations, sponsorship, event income, and contributions from institutional, governmental and private supporters. Those funds go where the objects point: international summits and conferences, commissioned research and feasibility studies, and the coalition partnerships that any Dogger Bank treaty will eventually rest on.
It holds no accumulated endowment. It was incorporated in August 2026 and starts, as new foundations do, with a brief and a bank account. The roadmap sets out what the early money buys: engineering feasibility, ecological baseline studies, and the diplomatic groundwork across four North Sea states.
Accounts and confirmation statements will be filed at Companies House on the statutory timetable and are public the day they land. That is the accountability the form comes with, and it is one of the reasons for choosing it.
Governance
The Foundation is governed by its directors, who may appoint further directors as the work grows; the Articles set a minimum of one and no maximum. Alastair Hodgson is the founder and first director. The directors will expand the board as the Founding Circle takes shape, and the intention is a board that carries the disciplines the project depends on: marine engineering, ecology, international law, and North Sea port and energy operations.
Membership is open to individuals and organisations approved by the directors. Each member has one vote, whatever they bring to the table, and no member holds a controlling stake because there is no stake to hold.
The Founding Circle is how that membership assembles. It is open now, and it is the practical route in for anyone who wants to work on this rather than watch it.
Registered Particulars
The registered office is in England and Wales. Full statutory particulars, filing history and accounts are published on theCompanies House public register. For correspondence, write to alastair@nieuwdoggerland.org.
Get Involved
The Foundation exists to convene, commission and argue the case: to governments, to funders, and to the engineering firms that would build it. Engineers, marine scientists, treaty lawyers and port operators are what it needs first. The Founding Circle is assembling now.
Get Involved