12 NSC
Mar 20
Hooton, near Ellesmere Port
in Cheshire is the location
for the latest energy facility
to be constructed in the UK
by Danish-based Burmeister & Wain
Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC).
As previously reported in NSC, the
company’s other projects have included
woodchip and straw burning biomass plants,
all of which relied on steel-framed structures
to house the process equipment and material
storage.
The Hooton project is different as this is
a waste-to-energy facility, the first nonsubsidised
merchant gasification plant in the
UK, as well as being the first time the UK
market will realise a gasification centre of
this size, based on fluidised bed technology
provided by Japan’s Kobelco.
The project is backed by UK investors and
is said to be in line with the nation’s target
of delivering efficient and environmentallyfriendly
energy, while reducing landfill use
by 10% by the end of 2020.
Working on behalf of BWSC, Caunton
Engineering is fabricating, supplying and
erecting approximately 900t of steelwork
for the project. Caunton has a strong
relationship with the contractor and
previously completed the steelwork packages
for a number of its biomass schemes,
including jobs in Brigg, Sleaford, Snetterton,
Cramlington and Sandwich.
Structural steelwork is forming the
Hooton facility’s three main buildings;
a boiler house, turbine hall, and a fuel
unloading and handling building.
“It is a very tight site and the structures
are all adjacent to each other on a relatively
small footprint,” explains Caunton
Engineering Site Manager Robert Aitman.
“Site and erection logistics are playing a key
role on this job as we have to work around
the other trades, most notably the equipment
installers.”
To this end, during the steel erection
process Caunton is leaving large openings
in the roofs and elevations to allow BWSC’s
sub-contractors to install the plant’s large
boiler and processing equipment. Once the
majority of this has been installed, Caunton
will infill the remaining steelwork areas,
with the entire steelwork package due for
completion in May.
The fuel unloading and handling building
is 89m-long overall, and is split into two
parts. The unloading area where trucks will
deliver waste is 16m-long, while the area
where the material is processed and sorted,
in readiness for gasification, is much longer,
measuring 73m.
The low-level unloading part of the
building is a 15m-high steel frame, with
Energy
Powered up with waste
A new steel-framed waste-to-energy facility in Cheshire will help
the nation reduce its reliance on landfill sites for refuse disposal.
FACT FILE
Hooton Bio Power
Resource Recovery
Centre, Cheshire
Main client:
Hooton Bio Power
Main contractor:
Burmeister & Wain
Scandinavian Contractor
Structural engineer:
Krabbenhøft &
Ingolfsson
Steelwork contractor:
Caunton Engineering
Steel tonnage: 900t
/Braced_frames
/Fabrication
/Brigg_Renewable_Energy_Plant
/Snetterton_Renewable_Energy_Centre,_Norfolk
/Kent_Renewable_Energy,_Sandwich
/Construction#Steel_erection