Milton Keynes-based Shanks Waste Management revealed today (February 22) it had made a teaming agreement with Babcock International to work towards finalising the deal.
The contract remains unsigned more than three years after the preferred bidder was originally named, in November 2007.
As part of todays announcement, Shanks said it would work with Babcock to close the contract later this year, under an agreement that provides a mechanism for it to acquire Babcocks waste business, of which the Wakefield project is the only known part, when the deal is signed.
The contract is based around using autoclave technology to treat up to 180,000 tonnes a year of the West Yorkshire councils residual household waste, as well as developing materials recycling facilities and an anaerobic digestion plant.
VT Group unveiled a full-scale trial, or first in class, autoclave facility in Wakefield in June 2010 to showcase the technology which is set to be used to deliver the contract (see letsrecycle.com story), and Shanks today said that operation was undergoing a rigorous testing programme before entering full service.
The agreement between Shanks and Babcock was welcomed by Joanne Roney, chief executive of Wakefield metropolitan borough council, who said: We are very pleased that Babcock and Shanks have entered into this agreement and I look forward to working with the team to move the project to financial close.”
Shanks
Commenting on the arrangement, Shanks chief executive Tom Drury claimed the Wakefield contract represented another example of the company delivering long term projects for the local authority sector and using a range of technologies to divert material from landfill and increase recycling.
He added: We look forward to working with Babcock and Wakefield MDC to bring this contract to financial close. Shanks brings genuine proven waste management experience to the Wakefield team and the project.
Wakefield will add to the Cumbria PPP and the East London Waste Authority and Dumfries & Galloway PFI contracts to bring the total of material it handles under public-private partnership contracts to around 1.3 million tonnes a year.
The company could also gain additional tonnage from its October 2010 acquisition of United Utilities PFI waste business, in an arrangement which only requires it to pay for involvement in projects when they are actually signed (see letsrecycle.com story).
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