In 2013, VINCI Environmental UK won a £141 million contract to build Cornwall's biggest energy from waste centre near St. Dennis in Cornwall. Named the Cornwall Energy Recovery Centre (CERC), the project aims were to reduce waste from the county's landfills by up to 90%, further increase the use of renewable energy sources, and use energy from waste to help bridge the ever-growing energy gap. The completed project is set to provide electricity for up to 21,000 home in Cornwall.

In March 2015, AF Protection Limited were contracted by Taylor Woodrow and VINCI Environment UK to complete a host of passive fire protection applications across the whole site. Early on in the project, the structural steels of various 'hazardous' areas required extensive encasing to provide up to three hours of fire protection. This first stage equated in excess of five hundred linear metres of cladding encasement in areas such as transformer rooms and the Waste Bunker Hall. Certain phases required the use of MEWPs to elevate operatives to working heights exceeding thirty metres in order to install the cladding.

Following these successful installations, AF Protection then presided over the installation of several passive fire protection systems to the CERC Administration building to ensure the fire safety of the new structure. This included fire board cladding to the structural steels of escape staircases in order to maintain fire integrity for up to two hours. Air sealing, fire stopping and penetration sealing, acoustic and compound systems were also installed throughout the building.

Shortly after the completion of works in the Administration building, now in 2016, operatives were then instructed to complete further structural steel encasements to the Welfare block for the adjacent IBA building varying from one-hour to two-hour specification. While these works were being completed, a secondary team completed two-hour rated fire stopping and penetration sealing to the Turbine Hall, Boiler Hall and FGT Rooms in the heart of the power station.

AF Protection were also requested by VINCI to provide an on-site consultation to formulate a proposal for a three-hour fire-rated cavity enclosure in a high-risk transformer room. After taking the necessary steps and precautions, a verified solution was successfully put presented, accepted and subsequently installed.

CERC in Cornwall was the largest that AF Protection has completed to date with a final contract value nearing £320,000. Nearly every single application that AF Protection can provide was undertaken across the whole site over the course of the 18-month project and all were successfully implemented with minimal issues. This venture was a phenomenal task but it reflects our commitment to provide a comprehensive service to our clients and provide solutions to any challenge that presents itself.

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