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Leeds scheme wins National Structural Timber Award

The new Recycling and Energy Recovery facility in Leeds has won its first award - before it even officially opens.

The facility has been awarded the Project of the Year at the National Structural Timber Awards.

The innovative building, which is visible from many points in the city, is due to open in Spring 2016.

The building, which is being built by Clugston-CNIM and operated by waste management company Veolia, uses a mix of innovative and sustainable materials and techniques to reflect its environmental role.

At the centre of this approach was the use of a large timber frame to form the outer shell of the main process building. Provided from sustainable sources at 42meters high by 150meter in length, it is the largest timber structure of its type in Europe.

It was this feature, along with the desire to maximise the building’s sustainability by using renewable materials, which attracted the judge’s interest.

Supplied by Clugston’s specialist subcontractor, Hess of Germany, the timber elements were delivered to site in large sections prior to being assembled into the iconic arches and lowered into position.

Operator Veolia also picked up Client of the Year at the prestigious awards ceremony, held at the Birmingham NEC earlier this month. Veolia has a long term partnership with Leeds City Council to manage the City’s municipal waste.

The Facility, when fully operational, will have the capacity to process up to 214,000 tonnes of household black bin waste, diverting from landfill and generating 11Mw of electricity.

The waste will pass through a mechanical pre-treatment (MPT) process to allow extraction of recyclable materials such as cardboard, plastic, ferrous and nonferrous metals.

Only following this will the remaining material pass into the energy recovery section, which is able to generate enough electricity to power 20,000 homes.

Commenting on the award, Clugston’s project manager Tony Wing said: “This is a unique project which has involved working with traditional materials in non-traditional ways. Buildings have been constructed in timber since the dawn of time but never on this scale. “

Paul Fowler, general manager at Veolia, said: “We are delighted to win our first award for the Leeds Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility. The building’s unique, innovative design creates a positive landmark for Leeds and the building’s sustainable elements will help create biodiversity for the Leeds area. “

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gillian Crook .