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What lessons and successes can the UK nuclear industry take from Hinkley Point C to Sizewell C?

18th, October 2023

UKCW - Hinkley Point C

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At the UK Construction Week Birmingham event in October 2023, our sponsorship of the Infrastructure Hub meant we hosted an extensive range of discussions, presentations and debates with industry leaders around the complexities and progress of infrastructure and how to achieve ‘Innovation in Action’. Conquip led three sessions on the agenda. In this series of blogs we’re going to report on each session, along with our views on the infrastructure industry.

On the second day of the UK Construction Week Birmingham event, there was a session entitled ‘A case study, ‘An infrastructure project success story with Conquip’.

The audience heard about the recent collaboration on the Hinkley Point C project, including how pre-construction, early project methodology and planning and best practice implementation led to a better energy infrastructure project. George Critchley, Group Director at Conquip spoke to guest speaker John McCoppin, General Plant Manager, Bylor Hinkley Point C.

John started off by talking through the lessons he has learnt in his career working on large infrastructure sites: “Logistics is always key – planning is so important to ensure that you have a productive project. Then ensuring lifting operations are safe and well managed – ensure the safety of everyone on site. And the organisation of materials and waste management – key from sustainability and cost perspectives.”

On the Hinkley Point C site, John explained that it had been 30 years since the last nuclear power station had been built, so the team needed to learn quickly. “The scale is a site equal to 250 football fields, with 66 tower cranes, 25 crawler cranes, 40 concrete placing booms and many telehandlers. It’s the equivalent of twenty or thirty projects in one site”.

The project has experienced and overcome many hurdles – concerning waste management, the planning of, and ensuring safe lifting practices with compliant equipment, removing people-plant interfaces, and the vital importance of good supplier selection and partnership.

John said: “Your supply chain can make or break a project. We are really talking about the importance of strong relationships. We’re looking for…delivering when you say you will, to avoid downtime. We are looking for local supply, what’s the capability of the potential supplier to be able to supply us quickly. This is all part of thee importance of investing in innovation and collaboration.”

George at Conquip added: “We get involved in the methodology as well as advising about and supplying the project equipment and site logistics to improve productivity and safety.”

And that was what we wanted in a partner, replied John “Conquip proved to be a partner that we could rely on throughout the project, to deliver innovation in these key areas: waste management, safety of lifts and planning. One key thing is that you were happy to work with us to innovate and deliver equipment that was suitable and could support infrastructure projects, while being compliant with relevant regulations for the UK market.”

George gave some examples: “We developed our bespoke in-house manufacturing capabilities ahead of projects such as Crossrail and other recent infrastructure projects, which actually helped us develop the BulkX bulk excavation system which was used at Hinkley Point C with another contractor and other solutions such as our concrete washout and recycling equipment, as well as personnel cages – like the Stretcher Cages and the 12-person access cages.”

John at Bylor explained that: “Another example was the modifications that your site engineers carried out to our concrete skips that we had previously purchased from you to allow us to pour concrete with a longer hose, but still in a safe way.”

He added: “The flexibility of being able to hire or purchase from Conquip, meant that from a budgeting point of view it gave us options. Also, over a long duration project of around four years, it means we can use Conquip’s refurbishment service to extend the life of our equipment and we are getting maintenance and repair work done by the actual OEM so it is fully compliant after the work.”

Before they wrapped up, George at Conquip asked “How do you see Hinkley Point C’s influence on future projects?”

John commented that: “Hinkley Point C has undoubtedly set a benchmark. The collaboration, the innovations, the emphasis on safety – it’s all going to influence how we approach future projects like Sizewell C. A lot of lessons have been learned, and we can start building a capability within the UK for the skillsets needed for these types of projects. After 30 years of not building any nuclear infrastructure, we are now gaining unique talent both on-site and within the supply chain.”

We really appreciated John participating in the event and there were so many audience questions afterwards!

Want more information on Conquip’s infrastructure design engineering and build solutions? Contact us.