Reduce, reuse, recycle, recover

Dunbar Energy Recovery Facility

Viridor was looking to develop an energy-from-waste plant at their existing landfill facility in Dunbar, Scotland. The new facility, forms part of Viridor’s £500 million investment in Scottish waste infrastructure, in line with Scotland’s ambitions to deliver a zero-waste circular economy.

In 2013, Viridor received planning permission and a pollution, prevention, and control (PPC) permit for a two-stream plant with the capacity to generate and export up to 30 megawatts (MW) of power. The design also includes the provision for heat export of up to 10MW for use by local consumers. Our team served as owner’s engineer for the scheme and provided project management, programme support, construction management, and engineering technical services.

Our Programme Management team provided a variety of specialist services that made a positive contribution to the successful outcome of the project. Our experience in the delivery of similar schemes meant we had a thorough understanding of the technologies and the construction sequencing required, as well as the importance of seamless interface between design and contractors. We anticipated the need for dialogue with the client, reacting quickly to provide additional information and minimise potential delays.

By identifying all critical path items, working with multiple contractors, and using our project controls and project management specialists, we developed a detailed and realistic schedule. Statistical analysis of the schedule data then provided Viridor’s management team with a rigorous analysis on the most likely time and cost outcomes. This combination of project controls coupled with our technical/engineering knowledge provided a clear and manageable independent view of the entire project.

Dunbar Energy Recovery Facility became fully operational in 2019 and now processes up to 360,000 tonnes of waste per year. It supports around 55 full-time jobs, boosting the East Lothian economy by £10 million.