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Solvay Adhesives Expansion
Client: Solvay S.A.
Location: Wrexham, North Wales, United Kingdom
Business Segment: Urban Solutions
Industry: Manufacturing
Services: Engineering and DesignConstruction
Executive Summary
Solvay chose Fluor for the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCm) of the expansion of their 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.
We brought our industry experience and depth of resources to the project in Wales. As requested by the Welsh Assembly, we 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. We 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 of the facility houses process manufacturing, raw material storage, finished goods storage, labs, process support/storage and shipping/receiving. The next floor up 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. We 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.
Conclusion
Solvay was 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 at Fluor's offices in the UK, India and United States.
