Galvanized steel in a new Norfolk based biomass plant
Steel fabricated by Caunton Engineering and hot dip galvanized by Joseph Ash Galvanizing used in new Norfolk biomass plant.
In 2017 a new energy plant will open in Norfolk, with an electrical capacity of 44.2MW and the ability to supply 82,000 homes with energy.
For environmentalists and engineers alike, it is an interesting project as the energy will be generated from burning organic matter. Local farmers are interested too as they will be supplying (and making an income from) the 250,000 tonnes of straw and woodchip that will be used to generate the energy.
The project is being funded by two Scandinavian organisations – Burmeister & Wain Scandinavian Contractor (BWSC) and PensionDanmark. The architect and structural engineers are Ramboll, and the steelwork contractor is Caunton Engineering Ltd. Joseph Ash Galvanizing also has an interest in the project as we were entrusted by Caunton Engineering to hot dip galvanize the steel which they fabricated.
This steel, which was fabricated by Caunton Engineering, included:
- Stairs
- Platforms
- Two barns for straw
- The roof of the woodchip barn
- Crane beams
- Boiler house
- Turbine hall.
It has been a huge project involving about 1500 tonnes of steel. In fact, the steel beams for the turbine hall alone were 33m long and 8 tonnes in weight each.
Gary Hatton of Caunton Engineering said that they chose Joseph Ash Galvanizing because of their ability to turnaround the high tonnages of a complex galvanized frame to programme in accordance with the required Quality Assurance.
Steven Hopkins, Managing Director at Joseph Ash Galvanizing said:
“This is exactly the sort of project that we like to be involved in, offering an opportunity for careful planning well in advance to ensure that the steel components are designed and fabricated to take into account the galvanizing process. This promotes the best possible quality of finish with minimum waste and less of an environmental impact. Demanding jobs like this bring out the best in us, in order to achieve total customer and end-user satisfaction. The experience gained then benefits our entire customer base.”
Environmental concerns play a large part in our own factory processes at Joseph Ash Galvanizing so it is pleasing to have been part of a project which uses biomass as a new source of fuel. The new energy plant has also supported over 250 jobs during the construction phase, and will create 36 new positions once it is completed and operational.
For further information about the new biomass plant, visit New Steel Construction or the Eastern Daily Press.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing has a new Director of Business Improvement!
Meet Stuart Whitehouse…
Joseph Ash Galvanizing has recently promoted Stuart Whitehouse to the role of Director of Business Improvement. Within this role Stuart will oversee all health and safety, and human resources issues within the company. He also plans to:
- Drive the review and implementation of a new, employee-generated set of company values, with an emphasis on customer care
- Focus on succession planning and employee development
- Spearhead and drive forward the ‘Continuous Improvement Teams’ within the company in order to create a culture of continuous improvement and best practice.
Stuart is definitely the best person for the role, having broadened his own career through working at Joseph Ash Galvanizing since 2002, as well as becoming an expert in health and safety, and human resources management.
Stuart’s CV whilst at Joseph Ash Galvanizing reads as follows:
- He joined the company in 2002 as a Quality Manager at Joseph Ash Walsall
- In 2004 he was promoted and was given the responsibility for health and safety at the Birmingham plant
- In early 2005 Stuart was promoted again to become the Company Health and Safety Manager for all Joseph Ash Galvanizing plants
- In 2010 he gained an MSc in Health, Safety and Environmental Management, and became a full chartered member of IOSH
- In the Summer of 2012, Stuart became the Health and Safety and Human Resources Manager for Joseph Ash Galvanizing
- He then completed a Diploma in Human Resources Management in 2014
- July 1 2016 – promoted to Director of Business Improvement.
Congratulations Stuart! We wish you well in this new role.
Full steam ahead…
Earlier this year we published some news about growth plans at Joseph Ash Walsall. The plant is being extended in order to add extra services for customers, escalate work capacity, improve the working environment for employees, and increase health and safety at the plant.
We’ve been steaming ahead with our plans since the article was published, so here are a few photos so that you can see how far we’re getting. You can also view the full album here.
We’ll continue to keep you updated on all the progress at our Walsall plant.
Don’t forget that if you’d like to visit the plant and see it in action, please contact us.
The Joseph Ash Galvanizing website now has a new powder coating paint swatch page. Take a look!
If you’re currently deciding on a paint colour for a particular steel fabrication, then look no further than the new Joseph Ash Galvanizing paint swatch page.
This new resource shows a range of paint colours that we use to powder coat steel, from one of our main powder coating suppliers: AkzoNobel.
The colours are all from AkzoNobel’s Interpon range and are grouped into five sets:
- Traditional RAL colours
- Anodic – anodised alternatives
- Brilliance – bright sparkling metals
- Structura – fine texture RAL shades
- Futura – special effect, two-toned colours, textured metallics
(Joseph Ash Galvanizing also uses powder coating paints from IGP, Dupont and Tiger.)
To book a powder coating job, please contact our Medway team today.
The June edition of the Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter was published this week. To read a copy click here.
Find out about the galvanized steel walkway amid the treetops of Kew Gardens, UK Construction Week at the NEC in Birmingham, new playground gates in Nottingham, and Duplex Coatings from Joseph Ash Medway. You can also watch a video to see how steel is made.
If you would like to receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe by scrolling to the bottom of the page and looking for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too, so feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
Kew Gardens in South West London has an international reputation as the centre for botanical research, as well as having an unequalled reference collection about all types of flora and fauna. With over 300 acres of land, beauty is as far as the eye can see, and none more so than from the Treetop Walkway, hot dip galvanized by Joseph Ash Galvanizing in 2008.
The Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens was a new attraction which opened on International Biodiversity Day in 2008. At 18 metres high and over 200 meters long, visitors to the park can walk amongst the treetops of sweet chesnut, lime and oak trees. The Walkway is accessible via a lift or 118 steps and not only provides great vistas across the park and through the trees, but allows people to experience nature amongst the tree tops.
As Joseph Ash Galvanizing was given the responsibility in 2008 for protecting the walkways on the steel structure with a galvanized finish, we decided to take advantage of the Summer weather a few weeks ago in order to revisit the structure.
Take a look!
The Treetop Walkway was designed by Marks Barfield Architects, who contracted Britland (based in Dover) to manufacture and install the metalwork for the structure. Britland then engaged Joseph Ash Galvanizing as a specialist sub-contractor to treat the steel with a hot dip galvanized finish that blends well with the environment and will be maintenance-free for 60 years.
In 2008, Bob Ockendon from Britland commented: “The structure itself is unusual in the fact it is formed from ‘weathering steel’ which is only available in sheet form which then had to be fabricated to make the various members. It is intended to weather to blend in with the environment, but Joseph Ash Galvanizing treated and coated all the grilles and side panels to protect them while matching the surroundings. We decided to go to Joseph Ash Galvanizing because of the service the company offers and the standard of work they have done for us in the past.”
Eight years later, we are happy to report that the Treetop Walkway is proving a popular attraction with many people enjoying the views and traversing the platforms amongst the trees. The structure looks just as amazing today as it did in 2008, and the steel has weathered well and looks stunning set into the nature of the Gardens.
No doubt we’ll head back for another visit to Kew Gardens and the Treetop Walkway at some point in the future. If you’re looking for a great out out this Summer, we recommend you visit the attraction too.
The May edition of the Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter has been published this week. To read a copy click here.
If you would like to receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe by scrolling to the bottom of the page and looking for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.
We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too, so feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.
Initiatives to benefit customers and employees alike.
Joseph Ash Walsall is being extended as part of some redevelopment plans to add extra services for customers, escalate work capacity, improve the working environment for employees, and increase health and safety at the plant.
Extra services for customers…
As part of the extension plans, Joseph Ash Walsall will increase its factory floor space by a huge 25%. Not only will this enable the plant to further automate the crane system in order to increase work capacity and weekly output, but it will also allow the team to carry out additional post-galvanizing processes for customers. These extra processes include special packing (which is often required), and additional fettling for powder coated materials. The extra floor space will also allow for additional storage of customer orders.
A better environment for employees…
Excellent customer service and quality of finish is at the core of everything we do at Joseph Ash Galvanizing. In order to provide a great service however, it’s also important to look after the people who work at our company. With this in mind we have started to improve the working environment at the Walsall plant by adding extra office space, a new canteen, and new changing rooms for team members working the factory floor.
Health and safety initiatives…
The health and safety of our team members is just as vital as providing a great working environment, so as well as building extra space for additional customer services, we have also created a much larger floor space within the factory to permit the use of fixed jig stands. Fixed jig stands are important as they will prevent the need for Joseph Ash team members to work underneath the jigs suspended by the crane.
As the work on the Walsall plant progresses we’ll keep you updated.
If you would like to visit the plant and see it in action at any point, please contact Joseph Ash Walsall.
Changes have been afoot at Joseph Ash Medway in recent months, with both building works and ‘green’ initiatives taking place.
Building works
Not only have we started the build on a new office block for our administrative and sales teams, but we have also incorporated new changing facilities for our operations team, and a new hardstanding bay for trucks.
The new office block will enable the administrative/sales teams to work in a new temperature controlled modern environment in order to improve their working lives. The offices will also enable us to have somewhere suitable to meet and greet any visitors to the Medway plant.
The operations teams have not been left out as we’ve also built new changing rooms so that the teams have somewhere to store their belongings whilst working in the plant, as well as somewhere to get cleaned up after a hard day’s work operating the heavy-duty galvanizing, shot blasting and powder coating equipment.
Finally, we have also built a new hardstanding area for vehicles wishing to load and unload steel fabrications, which has the added benefit of making access to the plant, and parking, easier.
We haven’t stopped there though…
‘Green’ interceptors
Joseph Ash Galvanizing is environmentally aware and employees try hard to minimise damage to the environment as a result of plant activities. In recent years our ‘green’ initiatives at Joseph Ash Medway alone have included improvements to energy management systems, the installation of zinc reclamation facilities, new and improved gas burners for the powder coating oven, and the replacement of motors for the bagging plant and extraction facility resulting in a 21% saving in electricity.
As a company we are constantly trying to improve our environmental credentials and we do not like to stand still, so we have also recently installed new interceptors into the new hardstanding bay.
Interceptors act as a filtration system to prevent oils and other vehicular contaminants (from the trailers and trucks using the hardstanding area) from entering the storm water drainage system on site:
- The new drainage system on the the yard will collect all the rainwater that falls on the area and run it through a 20m x 10m attenuation (filtration) system which removes any heavy solid particulates.
- The filtered water will then flow into the new interceptor (designed in accordance with BS EN 858-1) where any oil or petrol will be separated out.
- From here the remaining water will flow into the main foul water system, which incorporates another interceptor before the water leaves the site.
All good ‘green’ fun!
If you would like to visit us at Joseph Ash Medway, to meet the team, see the plant in action, and see the new building works, please get in touch.
Whilst customer service and quality of finish are at the heart of everything Joseph Ash Galvanizing does for our clients, the health and safety of employees at our plants is also our prime concern.
In recognition of our hard work when it comes to exceeding health and safety standards, Joseph Ash Galvanizing has again been awarded the Gold award from RoSPA.
This is the third year in a row that we have won the Gold award and we couldn’t be happier.
RoSPA is The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. In order to be considered for the award a panel of judges from RoSPA visited our plants and assessed our health and safety management policies, procedures, systems and our industry leading safety record.
It’s an exciting year to win the Gold award as RoSPA is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the health and safety awards. RoSPA itself states on its website:
“These internationally recognised awards have become the most sought after accolade by organisations from every sector, offering organisations the opportunity to prove their ongoing commitment to raising standards and to celebrate success.”
Here’s hoping for success again in 2017!