Metsec Wastes No Time at Ardley

Metsec, the cold-roll formed steel manufacturer, has supplied a range of purlins and side rails for the construction of the secondary steel structure at the new Viridor Energy from Waste (EfW) facility in Ardley, Oxfordshire. Short lead times for its galvanised products gave the manufacturer the edge. Constructed adjacent to Viridor’s existing landfill site by lead contractor Clugston Construction, Ardley EfW is a £200m waste management site that serves energy recovery through the incineration of non-hazardous, residual waste. Approximately 300,000 tonnes of municipal as well as commercial and industrial waste will be processed at the site annually, to produce energy when the plant becomes fully operational in the second half of 2014. Supplying the correct materials specification to suit the site’s environmental conditions was a prerequisite in realising Tata Steel Project’s specialist steel framing design for Viridor. With the onsite construction work progressing at a fast pace, however, meeting the delivery date of the specified purlins and side rails presented a supplier challenge. Cold roll-formed steel manufacturer Metsec took it on: the roll-forming specialist was able to deliver the products concordant with Tata Steel Project’s design for the newly built 3,000-tonne structure at an exceptionally short lead time. This helped Clugston’s appointed installer, Bourne Construction Engineering, to meet the tight deadlines of the construction programme. Bourne’s Project Manager, Kevin Springett, confirms: “Metsec’s ability to deliver the specified components to site within a fairly narrow timeframe was crucial to the project. Despite short notice, they delivered the material promptly.” “Within 8 months the secondary steel structure went up 35m over ground level, as part of the superstructure that was erected around the EfW plant. At 229m long, varying from 38m to 70m wide and from 29m to 70m high, it really is an impressive facility and, from a bird’s eye view, it actually looks like a giant dinosaur footprint,” he adds.