Round the clock pumping

During spring 2005 Camfaud supplied pumps to Hochtief (UK) Construction on their contract to build an "Electricity from Waste" Plant at Allington, near Maidstone. Once operational, household waste from Kent will be incinerated at the plant to produce electricity which will be fed into the National Grid.

The construction method chosen to build the two waste bunkers and stair cores was slipforming. This method requires the supply of concrete into a shutter on a continuous basis with the shutter being raised as the structure progresses. The bunkers were 41.8 m. high and 58.2 m. x 21.5 m. cross-section; the stair cores 35.5 m. high with a 6.25 x 17.35 m. cross-section. The total slipformed surface was 17,500 square metres.

While these structures were being constructed, Camfaud provided 2 x M52 boom pumps working 24 hours / day, seven days a week. The largest of the pours lasted for four weeks and the smaller pours for two weeks each. Once the plant is completed, planning permission requires that the building is hidden by earth bunds constructed up to the same level as the roof.