Engineering firm SES Engineering Services (SES) has been appointed to support the delivery of Viridor’s landmark £252m resource recovery centre in Avonmouth, Bristol, it was announced on 22 November.
Delivered in partnership with Clugston Construction, the contract, worth £8.2m, will see SES provide all mechanical and electrical (M&E) works at the 34,000 sq ft site, including containment, lighting, small power, access control, ICT, CCTV, domestic water services, sanitary ware, above ground drainage, cooling, and mechanical ventilation.
The Avonmouth Resource Recovery Centre will process waste destined for landfill, to create energy for the national grid. Once completed, the site is expected to generate 32MWe of energy – enough to power 44,000 homes – and save 320,000 tonnes of waste from entering landfill. The bottom ash residue will also be reused for construction aggregate.
Construction has already begun, with SES preparing to start on site in January 2019 with hot commissioning scheduled to commence in October 2019, and full completion due in February 2020.
The appointment is the latest project to demonstrate SES’ expertise in delivering services to the waste and renewable energy sector. Most recently, the firm completed a £6.4m M&E contract at the Margam Green Energy Plant in Port Talbot and was instrumental in delivering the biomass conversion facilities at Drax Power Station in Selby – which burns waste wood pellet to generate electricity in three of its six units.
Steve Tovey, SES’ business director Midlands and South West, said: “With the UK environmental landscape currently caught between the dual pressures of reducing reliance on landfill and fossil fuel generated power, energy-from-waste schemes like Avonmouth are vital to improving Britain’s green credentials.
“We have a long history of delivering complex projects like this, and increasing our profile in the energy and waste sectors is an important growth driver for our business. Our experience gained on similar projects like Margam and Drax Power Station was a key decision maker for our appointment, and we look forward to applying this expertise to the Avonmouth project to ensure it is delivered safely and within its tight timescale.”
