FEATURE
Giant – The Olefins 5 plant before its demolition .
That meant every aspect of the work had to be planned in advance and executed meticulously to ensure any risk was minimised . With many plant structures the size of multistorey buildings and pipelines potentially still containing a myriad of hazardous gases and liquids , those risks were many .
Happily , over the course of the decade , more than 1.2m safe hours of work have passed – a truly world class safety performance .
Despite the complexity of this vast undertaking and the sheer volume of work carried out , the project has remained on track and has been delivered under budget .
Matthew Waller , operations director of the engineering consultancy RVA Group , which was tasked with designing and project managing the work of the six different contractor firms executing the work , said : “ This has been an intricate , extensive and high-profile demolition programme – part of SABIC ’ s investment in ‘ fit for the future ’ operations .
“ We have continued to sequentially remove redundant plant from their footprint to pave the way for their ongoing manufacturing excellence , and it has been a privilege to support them over the course of the last 10 years .”
Keiron Mulholland , SABIC ’ s senior demolition manager , said : “ The focus for this entire project has been safe execution by design . Detailed planning and expert decommissioning engineering have been the foundations for the safe delivery of this project from start to finish – no mean feat given the inherently high-hazard nature of the works and the sheer number of hours invested into the programme .
“ The team from RVA worked collaboratively with both the SABIC team and all the principal contractors to meet the project business drivers of an excellent EHS ( environment , health
The equivalent of 270 football pitches have been cleared on land that could eventually bring new jobs into the area
and safety ) performance , within the sanctioned budget and in line with the agreed schedule – a marvellous achievement and one everyone involved in the project should be proud of .”
The scale and complexity of the job is apparent in the statistics : > The demolition of two of the largest distillation columns in Europe at 110m .
> The dismantling of a further 25 columns and three chimney stacks reaching up to 125m .
> Removal of 11 cooling towers plus 50 furnaces , six spheres and more than 100 storage tanks .
> Demolition of a jetty on the River Tees , a job that required huge environmental care with the Teesmouth National Nature Reserve – home to a variety of protected bird and river species and designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest – close by .
> The retrieval and salvage of 58,500 tonnes of scrap metal .
> The removal of 44,000 tonnes of additional waste , including 8,750 tonnes of asbestos .
> All waste managed responsibly and in line with the waste hierarchy , resulting in an overall project recycling rate of 98 per cent . For SABIC , the benefits of carrying out the work were obvious . Continuing to manage redundant infrastructure was a time-consuming and costly exercise and with assets slowly deteriorating year by year , the chances of environment , health or safety issues increased .
However , there were other spin-off benefits that meant the success of the project had wider implications .
In terms of the continued economic health of Teesside , the work not only created work for those involved in the various aspects of the job , but also freed up valuable land at Wilton and North Tees for future industrial development – land that could eventually bring new jobs into the area via new investors .
The attraction of the land to those investors is obvious , and few locations in Britain compare with Teesside as a location for heavy industrial development . Reliable and easy to access supplies of low-carbon energy and raw material feedstocks combine with our unparalleled industrial infrastructure , the “ jewel ” that is our deep-water port and , not least , the area ’ s engineering and process expertise to tempt investors .
Not surprising , then , that the existing industrial sites on Teesside have seen an upsurge of enquiries from potential investors in recent years , with many keen to bring multi-million-pound developments to the sites that will boost Britain ’ s aim to move towards a net zero carbon future .
The benefits of the work extend to the wider community , too .
From the start , one of the ways SABIC tried to ensure safety remained the top priority was by implementing a scheme that ensured every safe working day completed would benefit a local charity or good cause .
As a result , thousands of pounds have been distributed across the Teesside area , adding to the tens of thousands SABIC donates to charities and causes in the area annually .
That aspect of the business will be explored in a future edition of Tees Business .
The voice of business in the Tees region | 97