Building and civil engineering contractor Britcon has completed a £2.6 million contract to deliver a new state of the art In-Vessel Composting (IVC) facility near Hull in East Yorkshire.

Britcon has successfully managed the design and build, acting as principal contractor for the entire £4.5 million project for East Riding based recycling company Biowise.

With funding assistance from the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Biowise secured a ten year contract with Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils to operate the new facility. It will process over 60,000 tonnes per annum of garden and food waste from 263,000 households in the region. The plant, which utilises the proven and highly regarded Dutch ‘Gicom’ technology, will convert the organic waste into quality compost for use in horticulture and agriculture.

Lincolnshire and Yorkshire based Britcon secured full management of the contract because of its sector expertise and proven success in delivering complex renewable and recycling sites. It delivered the entire project within a tight 37 week timeframe and on budget.


James Landau, managing director at Biowise said: "We chose to work with Britcon on the strength if its credentials in similar projects. The fact that we could rely upon one single contractor to deliver all of the complex building elements to house the process was reassuring. Britcon really did work in partnership with us to deliver value engineering and we are delighted with the handover."

The project brief included earthworks, piling operations and major structural works for a reception hall building, two tunnel structures with aerated pipework, plant rooms and biofilters, and a new substation. Works also included draining, ducting, underground process pipework and service installation, retaining walls, access road, external yards and domestic electrical installation.

John Collingwood, Contracts Manager at Britcon said: "This is a very specialist area of building work and the site footprint is very linear which presented a number of challenges, mainly due to access. We had to plan works carefully to meet a very tight timeframe and we were able to achieve this through our proven process of value engineering, ensuring best value at all stages of the project."

Britcon has a depth of experience working within the waste and renewables sector with particular credentials in biomass, solar PV, CHP, anaerobic digestion and thermal and ground source energy. It is an active member of the Renewables Network.

(LM/CD)