News: Balfour Beatty to build Manvers waste facility

Balfour Beatty, the international infrastructure group, has been awarded a £34m contract to construct buildings and infrastructure as part of a new Mechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) facility in Rotherham.

A partnership between Shanks Group plc and SSE (Scottish and Southern Energy plc), 3SE plans to use three sites to treat waste with this new facility adjacent to the NEXT warehouse at Brookfield's Park, designed to create material suitable for recovery and recycling.

The facility would receive up to 265,000 tonnes per annum and treat leftover household waste from Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham. The three councils secured £77m through the Private Finance Initiative for the scheme.

The plans, put together by consultants, Mouchel, are for 20,500 sq m of buildings on six hectares of brownfield land which was once part of the former Manvers Colliery spoil tip and coke works. Around 11% of the site in the Green Belt.

The buildings include the main intelligent transfer station (ITS) and anaerobic digestion (AD) buildings, together with an administration and visitor centre building, workshop, weighbridge and gatehouse.

Ian Tyler, chief executive at Balfour Beatty, said that the contract strengthens the company's position in the growing waste sector in the UK and demonstrates the flexibility of the investment business model as well as their ability to harness the skills within the group.

In April, members of the planning board at Rotherham Council referred the plans to the government's National Planning Casework Unit who handle major planning applications on behalf of the Secretary of State. If they decide not to intervene, planning permission will be granted, subject to a number of conditions.

The Manvers plant is expected to create 40 jobs with more in the construction phase. Construction is expected to take 28 months with completion scheduled for winter 2014. After a period of testing, the plant is expected to become fully operational in spring 2015.

Balfour Beatty website

BDR Waste Partnership website

Images: 3SE