Middlesbrough Biomass Plant

Project Description

Hambleton Steel were given instruction by Tecnicas Reunidas for a new biomass facility as part of major developments at Middlesbrough Biomass. Our requirements included structural steelwork for a Turbine Building and Water Treatment Building as well as fabrication and build of plate girders, metal decking/metalwork, open grid flooring, and application of intumescent paint.

We also supported the clients cladding remit by coordinating and providing secondary steelwork, which supported the full cladding system. This project was a NAECI book site.

The biomass plant in Middlesbrough is the largest in the UK and will be capable of generation 299MW of energy which is enough to power 600,000 homes. It will burn 1,100,000 tonnes of wood pellets per year, sustainably sourced and primarily imported from overseas.

Challenges l Solutions

Due to restricted logistics around the site, the Hambleton Steel project team worked closely with the client to ensure delivery and installation did not impact this live site nor programme. To ensure minimal disruption to other elements installations, our technical team designed a solution to help support these requirements.

Our team designed gable elevations to be easily removable to ensure the steam turbine could be lifted into the building when installation was required. The gable needed to be structurally prepared so it could be removed and replaced quite freely at various times new equipment was being installed.

The client specified long-span shallow trusses which presented a challenge for our fabricators. Access for welding was limited by the geometry, so detailed sequence welding was used to ensure all welds were correctly laid.

HSL’s design team were able to take connection loading data direct from the client’s BIM exports and rationalise the loads into workable cases. This allowed swift progression through the design phase and allowed key connections to be identified to value-engineered to best suit installation and reduce overall costs.