MEP
OFFSITE – THE SENSIBLE OPTION
Investment in renewable energy as a low carbon energy source is central to our sustainable future. For this reason, TATA Chemicals Europe (TATA) and Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant (LSEP) embarked on an all-encompassing infrastructure upgrade costing £480million.
1 This would support its existing process plant and facilitate the integration of a new Energy from Waste (EfW) plant that would provide renewable energy via a low carbon source to over 125,000 homes within the Greater Manchester area. Once operational, LSEP will recover energy safely and cleanly, diverting 600,000 tonnes of residual waste from landfill, producing renewable energy constantly. It was collectively determined that the only way to achieve this upgrade safely and within the timescales available, was to ensure everything was constructed offsite with minimal works on-site. A key aspect of the decision to construct everything offsite was largely driven by the fact that the live process plant was in 24/7 operation: downtime for construction works was not an option. As with any process plant, the quality of the finished product must
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be exemplar, which further reinforced the offsite solution as this ensured the product was signed off entirely before shipment.
model, allowing SES to influence every decision that was made and to maximise the offsite solutions remotely.
As with any process plant, the reliability and longevity of the plant operation are critical in terms of supporting the key sector's customers. From the very first engagements with TATA, it was abundantly clear to SES Engineering Services (SES) that this project needed to be built offsite, and as such, develop bespoke engineered offsite solutions of an unprecedented scale not seen before. Engaging with SES at the earliest opportunity was essential to the successful delivery of this project. Due to the extensive existing infrastructure and the requirement to build everything offsite, SES had to deploy e-ranging cloud scanning surveys of the existing services, which were used to inform the BIM
The considerable number of hours saved using offsite construction from a Construction Design and Management (CDM) safety improvement perspective, allowed SES to win the award for ‘Prevention for Safety’ which itself recognises the valuable contribution made to improving health and safety on construction projects. CDM was also crucial as the scale of these modules and the infrastructure in general, required extensive working at height – allowing people to work safely at a lowlevel in a controlled environment rather than at a high-level in a live process plant was a key driver. The extensive works taken offsite reduced the overall programme by over four months, an undeniable game changer.
WWW.OFFSITEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2021
