It’s all rubbish as far as Andy King is concerned. But that doesn’t necessarily mean bad. The Isle of Man is leading the way in waste recycling plants, while Stoke’s should be binned
We have a pressing need for more energy from waste plants in the UK but some of them are so ugly that they attract local opposition. I know we are capable of achieving so much more than my blunder, Hanford Waste Services’ energy-from-waste incinerator in Stoke.
Functional it may be, but the stark and locally unsympathetic design of this waste facility only reinforces community misconceptions about the plant’s supposed potential to pollute instead of generate energy from what would normally be buried in landfill.
The plant was rebuilt almost from scratch in the late nineties but, in my opinion, the opportunity to enhance the aesthetics was completely missed. The impact of this dull and dated design is heightened as it’s in a landmark location for the area, adjacent to the trunk route network forming the gateway to the city and next to Stoke City Football Club’s Britannia Stadium, which attracts international attention as a Premier League team.
The contrast couldn’t be greater with SITA’s incinerator at Richmond Hill on the Isle of Man. The words “funky” and “waste plant” don’t often go together but here they do. It features on a tourist website and has a novel design with a heritage feel. The stack of the plant is designed to represent a Viking sail and the overall shape draws from the island’s rolling hills.
By showing waste can be beautiful, SITA’s incinerator attracted little local opposition in the planning stages. In the battle between Viking and industrial style, and the fight to win over hearts and minds, the Norse invaders emerge victorious.
Wonder
The Richmond Hill energy-from-waste facility on the Isle of Man was completed in 2004 and takes all waste generated on the Isle including large items such as furniture. Waste is loaded into incinerators from vehicles by a crane before being burned at temperatures of over 1,000°C. Steam generated by water heated during the process turns generators before being condensed and recycled. The generators provide 10% of the energy consumed by residents on the Isle of Man.
Blunder
The Stoke incinerator is operated by Hanford Waste Services (HWS) and was built in the Sideway area of Stoke-on-Trent. It has a total installed generation capacity of 15.4Mw. In addition the site allows for the separation of recyclable materials through the household waste recycling centre next door. The plant also extracts ferrous and non-ferrous metals from the ash residues after burning.
Andy King is energy and waste sector leader at Morgan Sindall Professional Services. He concentrates on helping customers deliver future-proofed and low-carbon projects in energy, nuclear, utilities and across the full suite of waste technologies.
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