Shield Environmental Services has recently completed working on a fascinating and important project for Takuma, a world leader in providing energy from waste. Appointed main thermal insulation contractor for the Energy from Waste project in Colnbrook, Slough, in December 2007, Shield Environmental Services has provided a complete solution for the innovative scheme from design to commissioning. This has required a large and skilled workforce led by a strong planning and technical management team working closely with all other contractors to deliver this challenging development in waste management in this country.

In developing the design, Shield has solved the many complex and technical difficulties arising from exceptionally large thermal expansion in such a processing plant. This includes everything from the inital design and welding of the steel framework, to the application of the thermal insulation fitting of expansion rails, and finally the fabrication of the finished cladding, along with the many thermal expansion slip joints that ensured an aesthetic industrial finish, allowing for a safe operating environment with optimum thermal conservation.

The Colnbrook plant comprises three on-site processes: a clinical waste incinerator; a material recycling facility that sorts and reclaims around 40,000 tonnes of household and commercial waste a year, and the annual incineration of 400,000  tonnes of waste that would otherwise be sent for disposal in landfill sites. In all, the plant is capable of producing 32 mega watt per hour of power for the national grid which is the equivalent of powering a town the size of Aylesbury.

The company's work on the Energy from Waste project at Colnbrook has been completed on time and to budget and provides a great platform to be part of this emerging market.
This is an excerpt taken from the October 2009 issue of Construction Magazine showcasing 30 Years of Innovation at Shield Environmental Services Ltd.