Client: Veolia
Building User: Staffordshire County Council
Architect: Tata Steel Projects
Main Contractor: Clugston Construction
Structural Engineer: Ramboll
Roofing & Cladding Contractor: Northern Cladding Ltd
Tata Steel Products: Trimapanel® insulated wall panel system with Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® and Colorcoat Prisma® pre-finished steel

Veolia was awarded a 25 year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract by Staffordshire County Council to build and operate the Four Ashes Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) in South Staffordshire. In line with the Council’s ‘Zero Waste to Landfill’ strategy, the ERF will treat 300,000 tonnes of non-recyclable household waste each year, thereby generating up to 26MW of energy for the National Grid - enough electricity to power 35,000 homes. The project has now been awarded a BREEAM ‘Very Good’ rating.

The challenge

One of the key design requirements for the Four Ashes ERF was that all waste handling and processing had to be contained within the building envelope - and without causing any nuisance to nearby neighbours through noise pollution. Planning consent was conditional on meeting these criteria and so the choice of a cost-effective and suitably robust cladding system with the appropriate acoustic capabilities was paramount.

The solution

Installed by Northern Cladding Ltd, the Trimapanel® secret fix insulated wall panel system with super durable Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® pre-finished steel on the inside face met the challenging requirements.

Trimapanel® was the only system tested that met the required acoustic performance, and Colorcoat HPS200 Ultra® exceeded the requirements of CPI5, as per EN10169:2010, which is the highest classified level of corrosion protection for internal environments.