SYSTRA Ireland
SYSTRA celebrates completion of Scunthorpe Power Station refurbishment
SYSTRA celebrates completion of Scunthorpe Power Station refurbishment
The team at SYSTRA is celebrating the recent completion of the Scunthorpe Power Station Refurbishment design and build project. The complex work programme, which finished last month, included roof and wall replacement together with new lighting, ventilation and structural steel truss replacement and remedial work to other structural steel.
Ian Pashley, our Head of Construction and his dedicated team in Site Services, delivered an innovative solution that fully integrated with operations to ensure there was no requirement for the Combined Power Plant to shut down. They managed to complete the work without disrupting either the operation of the plant or the turbine outages which were planned throughout the construction period.
Ian explains:
« I had to work closely with both the British Steel plant team and our own construction team led by Paul Morritt to understand permit systems and how their plant operated.
As a result of this early groundwork, in the short term we produced a cost-effective design with minimal plant disruption. In the long term, our work increased the lifetime of the facility, reduced energy use, improved maintenance access and provided an enhanced working environment.. »
LED fixtures with integrated sensors were installed, along with an automatic fire alarm system interfaced with a control system to operate motorised dampers to improve ventilation and close the system in the event of a fire.
Ian added:
« Our lighting design not only supported the client’s sustainability philosophy, it also delivers a financial saving of around £14k per annum in energy and maintenance costs compared to traditional lighting installations. »
An innovative moveable scaffolding platform was designed to facilitate removal and replacement of the old roof. To protect the operational plant below and minimise rain damage, the work was done in 13 phases in 6m bays including installation of large roof vents designed as complete units. Early coordination at the design stage reduced overall project costs by fully integrating the installation into the operational requirements of the plant.
SYSTRA also worked collaboratively with the British Steel project team on supply chain selection and management. Key to project success was the production of a collaborative hazard log throughout the operational, design and construction stages, which evolved during the lifecycle of the project. Hazards included the potential movement of a 1060mm diameter gas main attached to the building – a maximum deflection during the work was agreed.
Ian explains:
« When planning the removal of the roof trusses, our design team identified that deflection had the potential to increase and so we agreed a maximum allowable deflection on the gas main with British Steel. For the initial design we allowed for a series of internal props to minimise this deflection. The final solution designed by SYSTRA’s Dave Warrior and his team utilised the existing mezzanine floor structure as the prop to hold the building in position, saving substantial money for the project. We put in place other Controls to monitor and mitigate the deflections of the building. »
Controls included:
- Removal of high-level cladding to reduce wind
- Limitation of crane lifting capacity
- Check actual deflections daily with a daily monitoring survey.
- Isolation of the gas main for the removal of the roof trusses as a safety precaution.
The result of the work is a much-improved working environment for the plant with better lighting and control of the steam from the turbines via the new ventilation system.
Our client British Steel was very pleased with the outcome of the work and the collaboration between both SYSTRA and British Steel was the key ingredient to the project’s success.
Rob Ingham, Project Sponsor at British Steel said:
« The works have been completed to an extremely high standard and the roof replacement has been viewed as a model project here at British Steel. Works were planned, managed and integrated with plant operations to ensure no shutdown or disruption to power generation was necessary. We were particularly impressed with the high standards of safety we were able to achieve by working collaboratively with the experienced team at SYSTRA. »
For more information on Construction and Site Services contact Ian Pashley on +44 (0) 7717806489.
