Premier Foods Plant

 WSP was responsible for delivering a £33 million upgrade to Premier Foods’ Billingham facility in Stockton-on-Tees, UK to increase the capacity of a plant manufacturing the meat-free protein Quorn.

The project involved the introduction of new fermentation capacity, new media preparation and sterilization, and downstream processing plant and equipment, as well as upgrade of an existing effluent treatment plant.

The WSP team was involved in creating the initial concept strategy and in the detailed design for the installation of new equipment, in procuring components and construction contracts, and then in project managing the construction work itself.

The client had a very small project team, so we worked very closely with them to make sure they weren't swamped with requests for information.

The design was based on an existing facility that was more than a decade old, but our experts incorporated numerous improvements to accommodate modern equipment and techniques.

The sheer size of some of the equipment called for detailed planning. The fermentation tank is over 30 metres tall and stands in a tower that is 10 storeys high. The vessel cost £1 million and took a year to manufacture.

Getting the tank into place involved a major crane lift, and WSP also had to time the construction to make sure the building was at the right stage when it was ready. It was planned and built so that if the vessel was slightly late or early, it wouldn’t hold up the project.