Construction specialist appointed to oversee Belfast EfW

The project, which will process up to 180,000 tonnes of household waste per year, has been described as the largest of its kind in Northern Ireland.

It will be fuelled by feedstock derived from household and commercial waste through a long-term feedstock contract with waste management company Pioneer Fuels.

Located in Belfast’s Harbour Estate, when completed in late 2017 the 14.85MW facility will provide power to the adjacent Bombardier Aerospace plant – with surplus electricity diverted to the local grid.

The plant has been made possible via joint venture Full Circle Generation Ltd – comprising developer RiverRidge Energy Limited, Equitix Management Services. The Green Investment Bank (GIB) and P3P Partners.

In November, GIB announced it would invest £47 million in the project – almost half of the overall build cost (see letsrecycle.com story).

Equitix has been contracted by the consortium to manage the plant over the next 20 years. The stakeholder has meanwhile appointed Turner & Townsend to help assist it in ‘client representation services’.

The construction consultancy also provided cost management advice during the planning stage for the facility and will now engage with delivery of the plant.

This phase of the project will be carried out by Bouygues Energies and Services, which has been commissioned to design, build and operate the facility.

‘Ambitious’

Orla Carew, associate director for Turner & Townsend, said: “We’re immensely proud to be involved in such an ambitious, environmentally-sensitive project which will not only reduce landfill waste in the region but also help cut Bombardier’s energy bill by a quarter.

“Our expertise and knowledge in project and cost management services assisted in ensuring the pre-financial close phase ran smoothly and was ultimately successful.”

Neil Springett, managing director of Equitix Management Services, added: “This is hugely significant for Northern Ireland’s waste management sector and we are delighted Turner & Townsend is on board again to assist in delivering such a critical piece of infrastructure which will turn waste into energy.

“The consultancy’s support throughout the pre-financial close process was an important factor in success and we are proud to be creating 250 construction jobs with a further 20 full-time posts, once the plant is operational.”