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Gladstone Biomass Handling and Storage Facility, Liverpool

Gladstone fuels sustainable future

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Project Overview

Client Peel Ports Group
Project Value £85m
Expertise Civil Engineering
Sector Energy
Timeline December 2014 - July 2016
Location England - North
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Project summary

Recognised as a "truly stunning project" by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the £85m Gladstone Biomass Handling and Storage Facility is a core supply chain component of the largest decarbonisation project in the EU taking place at Drax’s Selby Power Station. A feat of complex engineering, this truly automated bulk-handling facility, designed and built by our experts over a 19-month programme, is capable of handling three million tonnes of wood pellets a year.

The detail

Testament to the quality of our work at the Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal, we were subsequently entrusted to design and build our second significant biomass facility for the same end customer (Drax Power Station), albeit on behalf of a different port authority (Peel Ports).

Awarded the ‘Large Project of the Year’ by the ICE, the Gladstone facility was completed on plan, within 19-months, and built safely with over 1,000,000 RIDDOR free ‘man-hours’. Comprising three 33,000t storage silos, 40m in diameter, and 55m in height, the terminal also features a rail loading silo (14m in diameter/44m high), and 1200m of conveyors facilitating the transport of biomass from ship to silo and silo to rail.

Our innovative construction included the design and fabrication of the largest hydraulic slide valve, which is now an approved unit on the open market. The Gladstone project has been instrumental in reducing Drax’s CO2 footprint by 12t annually – the equivalent of removing 10% of the cars on UK roads.

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"Gladstone Biomass Terminal is a truly stunning project, the first facility of its kind on the west coast of England. Built with safety and the environment to the fore, the complexity of the engineering made it a clear winner"

Darrell Matthews, Regional Director, ICE North West