Britcon wins £13.5m contact to construct Dagenham AD plant

Britcon, the Yorkshire based building and civil engineering business, has secured a £13.5m contract to deliver the construction works on a new anaerobic digestion (AD) plant in Dagenham for food waste recycler ReFood (UK) Ltd.

This appointment follows the Yorkshire office of Britcon delivering the construction works on a £24m plant in Widnes in 2014, and a £20m plant completed in 2011 at Doncaster with a subsequent £5m extension constructed in 2014, all for Refood (UK) Ltd.

ReFood, which specialises in the recycling of food chain by-products, has a portfolio of 11 AD plants across Europe that generate enough renewable energy to power over 50,000 homes every year.

The new £32m plant in Dagenham will be the most advanced integrated AD plant dedicated to food waste in the south of England.

The gas to grid (G2G) facility will be capable of recycling 160,000 tonnes of food waste each year and generate more than 2,000 m2/hr of methane gas. Using G2G technology this will be upgraded to reflect the qualities of natural gas – allowing it to be injected directly into the national grid and used to power more than 10,000 homes across the region.

The plant will be located in the London Sustainable Industries Park (SIP) in Dagenham Dock and is expected to be open in summer 2017. When fully operational, more than 60 jobs will be created.

As principal contractor for the project, Britcon is appointed to manage the entire 66 week build project including groundworks, remediation works, piling operations, structural steelwork buildings and construction of works for multiple high rise, post tensioned, circular, reinforced concrete digester, receiving and gas storage tanks.

The programme also includes delivery of a carbon neutral, high specification office complex, and state of the art depackaging building with deep basement, numerous process structures and external and landscaping works.

John Whitmore, director at Britcon, said, “We are delighted to assist ReFood (UK) Ltd in delivering its third AD plant in the UK.

“Through our previous projects we have demonstrated a highly experienced approach throughout procurement, delivery, flexibility and post management together with an exemplary health and safety record.

“We have built a strong and trusting relationship with ReFood (UK) Ltd together with Doncaster based John Hill Architects as lead designer and are delighted to be considered a valued partner as it seeks to further expand its operations in the UK.”

Paul Morris, Operations Director at ReFood, added: “We are pleased to appoint Britcon (UK) Ltd for this very significant project. The team has proved to be extremely experienced and proficient in this complex area of construction whist conforming to our sustainability agenda. Over recent years we have developed a fantastic relationship that we trust.”

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