3. Minimise downtime with Advanced Work Packaging
Shutdowns can be a make-or-break moment for chemical and advanced manufacturing facilities. They demand tight coordination to avoid unexpected delays and keep safety and performance on track.
Programmatic approaches such as Advanced Work Packaging (AWP) offer a practical framework for improving this process. It brings together engineering, procurement and construction teams from day one, helping projects stay on course and adaptable across small or large-scale shutdowns.
By breaking complex tasks into manageable chunks, this approach ensures teams have everything they need (including plans, materials, tools and permits) before work begins. Solutions like this have the potential to significantly improve how shutdowns are managed, resulting in fewer hold-ups, safer conditions and smoother delivery – without compromising on quality.
4. Build sustainability into the process
Chemical and advanced manufacturing stakeholders are facing increased pressure to improve sustainability and decarbonise. Process design plays a critical role in achieving these objectives; some examples of this include:
- Principles of green chemistry, circular chemistry and Safe and Sustainable-by-Design (SSbD) have been introduced and employed to help guide a sustainable and circular transformation of chemical and advanced manufacturing assets.
- To align with UK REACH guidance, many organisations are optimising solvents and reagents to reduce hazardous waste.
- The use of selective catalysts is helping to cut energy use and improve yields, and enzymatic reactions are gaining traction and becoming more common place as low-impact, lower temperature alternatives that offer energy savings.
The importance of building these sustainability principles into the development of process sites or the expansion of existing operations should not be underestimated. In one recent case, WSP supported a pharmaceutical company in achieving a 93% reduction in carbon emissions by reworking its process design – highlighting the scale of impact possible when sustainability is embedded from the start.
5. Unlock the potential of waste heat
Heat networks are emerging as a practical way to decarbonise urban heat. By capturing waste heat from sources like chemical and advanced manufacturing plants and redistributing it through heat pumps at centralised energy centres, these systems can serve a wide range of buildings – from hospitals and university campuses to commercial offices.
The UK government is now moving to formalise this approach and is looking to launch a number of Heat Network Zoning pilots. These will lead to the wholesale adoption of the forthcoming Heat Networks Zoning Policy, developed with input from industry experts including WSP, which identifies areas where heat networks are likely to be the most cost-effective route to low-carbon heat.
