Work underway to demolish former cement works.
Keltbray has commenced work to part demolish Barrington cement plant in Cambridgeshire, following the announcement by owner CEMEX, that the company will not be bringing the Barrington plant back into production. Barrington is one of only around a dozen remaining cement plants in the UK. Originally ‘mothballed’ in November 2008, building materials company CEMEX UK has concluded that there is no economic case to re-start production, and the company has now commissioned Keltbray to undertake the first stage of a phased demolition of the facility.
The part-demolition is due to be completed in October and expected to yield around 200 tonnes of metal, including steel and copper, for processing and recycling. Keltbray was awarded the Barrington contract much thanks to its successful demolition of CEMEX’s Southam cement plant in Warwickshire earlier this year, and in particular Keltbray’s health and safety record on this job: “Keltbray spent nearly 18,000 man hours on site, and we were delighted that the job was completed without a single health or safety related incident,” explained Colin Mousley, who is CEMEX UK’s Senior Projects Manager for the company’s cement division.
As with the Southam contract, Keltbray has developed a model for sharing the commercial recovery benefits with CEMEX.
Keltbray secured the 16-week contract at Barrington to carry out asbestos removal and disposal, the removal of hazardous wastes and part-demolition of three key areas of the plant, including part of the cement kiln and building, the precipitators, coal handling plant and tippler buildings.
The four-month contract is now well underway, and Keltbray’s Project Manager Kenny Fisher, who has more than 20 years’ of experience, is pleased with his team’s progress: “I was fortunate enough to bring most of the people from the Southam job to work with me here in Barrington. This means we’re able to build on the experience we gained in Warwickshire, and extend the good working relationship we had established with CEMEX.”
