City fabrication firm wins big biomass power plant deal

Tubular Fabrications, which employs 10, is set to hire five people for the duration of the contract at the Templeborough Power Plant, under construction at Ickles.

The firm will work for Babcock & Wilcox Vølund who have been contracted to build it, with Interserve Construction.

Managing director Andy England said: “We are pleased we were selected for the Rotherham project, especially as the development is so local to us.

“We welcome the confidence that Babcock & Wilcox Vølund has shown in TFL.

“Our selection was down to our commitment to uncompromising safety, quality and delivery, and also our pledge to the continual improvement of our highly-skilled workforce.”

The announcement comes after a fiercely competitive European wide bidding process, he added.

Work will commence in the next few weeks as the works progress from civil construction to the mechanical fit out stage.

Work started on the site in March 2015 after the development received planning permission from Rotherham Council in 2014. Last week, workers went on strike over pay and working conditions.

Once operational, in August 2017, the plant will burn 250,000 tonnes of waste wood a year to supply energy to 78,000 homes.

Tubular Fabrications, of Butterthwaite Lane, Ecclesfield, was established in 2006 by Paul Rodgers.

In the last few years it has grown to offer a full range of on-site engineering and project management services.

Most recently, the firm has been working in Sweden, 150 miles inside the Arctic circle, for the last 15 weeks. James Pursglove, of TFL, added: “It’s nice to get a job near home.”

The site is being developed by Templeborough Biomass Power Plant Ltd, which is owned by Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.

In November, Tim Forrest, of TBPP, said they had spent six months cleaning up the site, which operated as a steel works from 1871 until recent times.