FP McCann Precast Concrete Firewalls Installed on Dumfires and Galloway Grid Stability Facility
Project: Gretna Power Grid Stability Facility, Dumfries and Galloway
Client: Welsh Power/National Grid ESO
Principle Designer: TSK
Civil Engineer: RJ McLeod Contractors LTD
Products Supplied: FP McCann 4-hour rated Steel Reinforced Precast Concrete Firewall
FP McCann has supplied a 4-hour rated firewall to RJ McLeod (Contractors) Ltd as part of a new development to construct the Gretna Grid Stability Facility which comprises of a new electricity infrastructure compound including plant rooms, transmission compound and access road.
The project will see the developer, Welsh Power in conjunction with infrastructure partner TSK, deliver a new facility in Dumfries and Galloway to provide inertia to strengthen the grid and short circuit power, to ensure a reliable operation and reactive power for voltage control. Gretna is one of a series of similar plants being constructed as part of the second phase of the ambitious ‘Stability Pathfinder’ plan launched by National Grid ESO, the UK’s leading grid operator.
To protect the high voltage transformer and the Grid Stability Building, Glasgow based specialist civil engineer RJ McLeod (Contractors) Ltd, has installed a four-bay 4 hour rated precast concrete firewall measuring approximately 10 metres high by 21 metres wide. The wall has been constructed using FP McCann steel reinforced precast concrete ‘H’ columns and special prestressed precast concrete horizontal wall panels, all manufactured at the Company’s Lydney factory in Gloucestershire.
Each of the 5 supporting ‘H’ columns weighing 15.50 tonnes and measuring 1.63m high have been located in a pre-formed concrete foundation
The four precast concrete wall bays consist of 39 No. individual prestressed horizontal wall panels measuring between 3.25m wide and 4.91m wide. Each panel
is 200mm thick with weights ranging between 1.59 tonnes and 3.06 tonnes. One of the bay walls has a pre-formed bus duct hole.
Commenting on the installation of the precast concrete fire protection wall, Alex Jackson, Site Agent for RJ McLeod (Contractors) Ltd says, “FP McCann delivered the firewall to meet our tight construction programme. Installation by the RJ McLeod team was a speedy and simple process and the use of off-site manufactured precast concrete products has significantly reduced the amount of formwork and wet concrete trades on site in comparison to traditional in-situ construction.”
FP McCann steel reinforced precast concrete fire walls are designed to contain fire from 30 minutes up to 4 hours, depending on the thickness of the panels specified. Rapid installation is possible due to the tongue and grooved joints. Standard column sections vary dependant on overall wall height and are made to order to suit customer requirements. Fire walls and columns can be manufactured to the client’s own design or to FP McCann’s design specification
