NG Bailey has completed a fast-paced installation of mechanical and electrical services installation at the UK's prestigious and pioneering new battery development facility, the £130million UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC).
Acting as principal contractor, NG Bailey completed the £14.6million installation in just eight months. With commissioning and handover of the Coventry based facility now complete, NG Bailey has been retained as principal contractor to support UKBIC during the ongoing installation phase of the facility's specialist equipment. The publicly-funded facility, which combines manufacturing, experimentation and innovation, covers the whole production process from electrodes to cell, module and pack assembly. Its clients span a wide range of sectors, including electric vehicles, rail, aerospace, industrial and domestic equipment and static energy storage.
The majority of mechanical and electrical equipment – including more than 6km of pipework and 140 heavy duty service modules – was manufactured at NG Bailey's specialist offsite manufacture facility in Bradford. Other solutions delivered using offsite construction techniques include production of horizontal multi-service modules which enabled rapid installation and innovative space-saving solutions including a multi-service bridge structure which reduced the amount of space needed to house essential services and maximised useful production areas.
Duncan Smith, NG Bailey's Operations Director, Midlands explained: "By being involved in the early stages of the project we were able to develop bespoke solutions for rapid delivery. It only took six weeks from developing the initial concept to delivering the first module to site. By using our offsite manufacture and building information modelling (BIM) expertise, we were also able to deliver other tangible benefits for our clients, in particularly positioning our services to sit above the facility's own plant and equipment. This approach also dramatically reduced the time needed to deliver the project by shifting more than 17,500 hours of work away from site – it also creates safer working environments and reduces on-site congestion."
The £130million UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) is a pioneering concept in the race to develop battery technology for the transition to a greener future. The unique facility based in Coventry, provides the missing link between battery technology, which has proved promising at laboratory or prototype scale, and successful mass production. Jeff Pratt, Managing Director of UKBIC, added: "We're delighted with the progress made on the facility, and look forward to UKBIC being operational, a milestone we're all looking forward to achieving. Once complete, our facility will be accessed by any organisation with existing or new battery technology – if that technology will bring green jobs and prosperity to the UK."
Source: www.ngbailey.com
