With the danger of waste recycling piling up due to a fire at their main facility, Cumbria Waste Group needed a company which could work quickly, efficiently and cost effectively to get them back to business. The problem was the destruction had been so complete there was no chance of getting the plant up and running again within a suitable timeframe. The business was able to divert the waste but ultimately needed a more sustainable and comprehensive way of dealing with the situation.

Spaciotempo’s temporary building at Cumbria Waste Group.

The facility handles 24,000 tonnes of waste paper and card every year. The fire at the plant destroyed the site and all the equipment with it. It left the company with a headache i.e. the danger of tonnes of recycling material with nowhere to go.

Ian Parfitt, Engineering Manager at Cumbria Waste Group said while the business had always had a Plan B in place it was uneconomical in the long term. “Waste doesn’t stop coming just because our facility isn’t working. We put our contingency plans in place to direct the waste to another site while we carried out the clean-up. But we knew it was going to be a long drawn out operation. If we had continued that way the company and its business would have suffered.”

The company did have another facility five miles north of Carlisle and decided to install a short to medium term temporary building to provide a cost effective solution to diverting the waste. But there was a potential problem.

“Our biggest worry was whether we would be able to find a suitable building and get planning permission in time. We were heading towards the Christmas break when local councils would shut down. But this is one of our busiest periods as people want to get rid of their waste during the holiday. We weren’t sure it could all be done in time.

“We spoke to a number of companies but it was Spaciotempo who really stood out. They came up with a plan which met our requirements, was cost effective and could be delivered on time with the relevant permissions in place.”

The Spaciotempo team began putting in the foundations to start with and within a few weeks the frame for the building was in place. The building was 35 metres x 25 metres and eight metres high.

Mr Parfitt said: “The team were fantastic. Considering there was a two week Christmas break in between them starting and finishing work it was amazing. The weather here in Cumbria was pretty bad during that period but they carried on and got the job done. By mid-February the building was up and running.”

SPACIOTEMPO

www.spaciotempo.co.uk

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