Solvay Adhesives Expansion

Fluor was selected by Solvay for the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) of the expansion of its high-performance adhesives manufacturing facility in Wrexham, North Wales. Solvay Composites is a leading supplier of adhesive materials for the commercial aerospace industry. The new facility produces extreme-demand adhesives for use by worldwide airline manufacturers. The Wrexham site houses the company's European headquarters for research and development for advanced materials.

Fluor brought its industry experience and depth of resources to the project in Wales. As requested by the Welsh Assembly, Fluor also contracted with local companies to provide steel for the main building structure and to perform site work, grading, underground utilities and concrete work.

Client's Challenge

Solvay is a leading supplier of adhesive films for the aerospace industry. The new facility increases the worldwide capacity for adhesives manufacturing and serves as the primary supplier for adhesive films utilized by European airline manufacturers.

A protected species, the great crested newt, was on the site as well as protected trees, presenting significant site constraints. With respect to environmental stewardship, the site team had to be creative with logistics both for craft and materials to ensure efficient execution at the facility.

Fluor's Solution

Fluor completed the front end engineering design (FEED) for the expansion in 2015 and detailed design in early summer 2016. Fluor went on to construct the new facility with a total of 180 craft workers. The approximately 80,000 ft², three-story facility was built on a site directly across from an existing Solvay facility. The ground level houses process manufacturing, raw material storage, finished goods storage, labs, process support/storage and shipping/receiving. The first floor houses offices, labs and mixing functions. Process and utility support equipment such as chillers, HVAC units and process heating systems are located on the uppermost floor.

The main building pipe rack was modularized and installed with the structural steel frame, which pulled the design, fabrication, and installation of the pipe rack forward roughly four months. Fluor also utilized equipment modules or skids where possible to remove craft hours from the field, improving safety and efficiency. A piping contractor in Cork, Ireland provided the pipe rack modules, and vendors provided the equipment modules.

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Conclusion

Solvay is expanding its adhesives manufacturing operation for supply to the commercial aerospace industry. Fluor completed FEED for the expansion in 2015. Construction of the new facility was completed in 2018 with an opening ceremony on September 20.

The project was executed by an integrated engineering team located in Fluor's offices in the UK, India and the U.S.