Environmental Storage Covers Projects

Providing innovative solutions for Waste Management

Veolia Environmental Services has firmly established itself as one of the United Kingdom's leading waste management providers, offering an impressive range of waste management services and solutions to local authorities and commercial businesses.

Veolia ES Hampshire Ltd required a new temporary building to handle bulky items of civic amenity waste and road sweepings, totaling approximately 1,000 tons of municipal waste to be processed per week. Rubb demonstrated an impressive track record in designing and supplying buildings in the waste and recycling field and were awarded the contract.

Rubb provided a BVE type building, measuring 30m (98.4') x 30m (98.4') with 9.5m (31.6') high sidewalls and five, 4m (13.1') wide x 5m (16.4') high roller shutter doors, allowing the flexibility for delivery and removal of material simultaneously.

The construction included a 600mm concrete upstand to provide anchorage for the temporary building, with steel hoops for fabric attachment, and steel plates for framework attachment. The upstand is also designed to be removed when the structure is dismantled without disturbing the existing surface. The use of a white semi translucent roof fabric provides a bright interior and safer working environment. Energy costs are lower because the need for artificial lighting is reduced in daytime hours. In addition, the heat reflectivity of the white roof surface helps keep the building cooler.

Based in Portsmouth, England, the building is located in between the existing Veolia Environmental Services operated Energy Recovery Facility and the Materials Recovery Facility. This means the new building is easily accessible from and between both sites. The creation of the site allows Veolia to continue the innovative approach to waste collection, treatment and disposal ensuring that clients can take advantage of the most practical and sustainable waste management solutions.

Rubb Buildings Increase Storage for Recycling Plant

Following the award of the largest recycling contract ever placed in Northern Ireland, Bryson House Recycling Plant realized that they would urgently require extra storage facilities to house the vast quantities of un-sorted magazines, newspapers, bottles and cans.

Rubb constructed a 18m (59.04') x 24m (78.72') BVR building with 7m (22.96') high legs to enable articulated lorries to drive directly into the storage unit allowing the vehicles to un-load and store the waste material in a dry, wind-free environment. The natural lighting supplied by the translucent roof membrane reduces the use for artificial lighting, which not only saves on energy costs but also provides a safer more efficient operating environment.

"Rubb Buildings have been an excellent company to work with," said Eric Randall, Director of Recycling at Bryson House, "Due to the demand for extra space, we needed a contractor who could supply a storage solution in a short period of time. We chose Rubb Buildings above their competitors due to their approach in offering a fast, cost effective storage solution."

Due to the success to date, Bryson House are looking to expand their current facility, with Rubb Buildings to supply a second structure in order to further increase their waste handling storage and recycling capacity.

Relocatability the Key for SITA

Not only can a Rubb building be constructed quickly, but it can just as easily be dismantled, stored, and erected elsewhere, providing total flexibility for all sorts of storage requirements.

In 1997 Rubb erected one of their standard BVE buildings, 30m (98.4') x 30m (98.4') with 6m (19.7') high sidewalls, as a temporary waste transfer station at North Shields, on the outskirts of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Once construction of the permanent waste facility had been completed, the Rubb BVE building was taken down and stored for future use. The components of the building, stretched flame retardant PVC covered polyester over a hot dip galvanized steel frame, were easy to dismantle and economical to store in a corner of the North Shields site.

In 2004 temporary use of the building was needed again, but this time at Normanby Park, Scunthorpe, where it was transported to and re-erected in a couple of weeks.

"We had stored the Rubb building for several years in case we needed it for future use," said Danny Coyne, Senior Waste Disposal Engineer for SITA UK, "When planning was granted for a Waste Transfer Site at Scunthorpe we were only given approval for 7 years, so it would not have been economically viable to erect a traditionally constructed building. Our Rubb relocatable building provided the perfect solution to our problem".

The translucent roof of the Rubb building provides an airy working environment, and is completed as a waste facility with the construction of a 3 m (10') high retaining/push wall inside. Side walls are covered with weld mesh and debris net to aid in the collection of waste.

Coyne continued by saying, "Considering the BVE was stored in the open for 7 years, maintenance was minimal in re-erecting it again at Scunthorpe. No doubt we will be able to use it again in similar fashion in the future."

Relocatable Cover For Nuclear Waste Remediation

The citizens of Concord, Massachusetts, USA are considerably more at ease this spring following a $65 million cleanup of nuclear contaminated land utilizing a custom built enclosure from Rubb, Inc. of Maine.

Prime contractor, Zhagrus Environmental Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah, was faced with the problem of excavating and safely removing some 6,000 cubic yards of sludge containing radioactive levels of depleted uranium, copper and nitrates from a holding basin at the West Concord headquarters of Starmet, Inc (formerly Nuclear Metals Inc.). Zhagrus was required to completely contain any airborne pollutants during excavation and packaging operations prior to transportation to the disposal site in Utah.

The solution to the containment requirement was provided by Maine-based Rubb, Inc. which designed, fabricated and installed a custom built 115' wide x 210' long double skinned structure with 20' sidewalls on the sloping site. The building consists of a hot dip galvanized steel frame covered with flame retardant, high tenacity PVC coated polyester fabric. The inner liner was fabricated using a light weight reinforced polyethylene membrane which is to be disposed of at the end of the project. At its highest point, the single span half acre roof is 35 feet high and the whole building is designed to withstand 40 pounds per square foot live roof loads and 90 mph basic wind loads.

The structure was erected on an I-Beam foundation, secured to the ground with Manta Ray Anchors, and included a negative pressure so that any airborne contaminants were contained within the site.

Ordered in June last year, the installation was completed by early October - a period of less than 90 days. Excavation work then began with the radioactive sludge lifted into heavy duty plastic-lined sealed boxes which were placed onto a conveyor and loaded onto waiting trucks for transfer to rail cars.

Gordon Collins, Director of Marketing at Rubb, Inc., commented "The structure was custom designed to fit a very tight site with the south having to accommodate the land contour up a hill. Access is by three personnel doors and two 15' x 20' roller shutter doors. For Zhagrus, the beauty of the system is that all the structural components, except the inner membrane, can be reused. It's been a very successful project which has been closely by State and Federal regulators."

The RUBB organization, with production facilities in the United States, Great Britain and Norway, is recognized as a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of relocatable structures.

Inquire now to learn how a Rubb Building can meet your environmental storage needs.