Today, representatives from Altrad, Balfour Beatty Bailey, Cavendish Nuclear and Doosan Babcock joined forces to officially form the MEH Joint Venture; an innovative new partnership between Hinkley Point C and all Tier One MEH (Mechanical, Electrical and HVAC) and support services contractors to deliver the erection sequence for the UK’s first new nuclear power station in two decades.
The MEH Joint Venture will work across the Hinkley Point C site to integrate and coordinate the delivery of all main MEH, cabling and associated support services on the project. The joint venture will consolidate these works in line with the project’s priorities of safety, quality, time and cost.
This innovative approach will help different contractors work as a single entity to deliver the complex installation of cabling and pipework in the power station’s 2,500 rooms. The approach is an example of innovation based on the experience gained at other nuclear construction projects.
A central Project Management Office will manage critical project interfaces, the scheduling and sequencing of the MEH activities on site and work to refine and harmonise the required systems, processes, procedures, data and reporting to further optimize delivery of the project.
The MEH Joint Venture will also look at ways to create new cutting-edge pipework manufacturing in the UK. This new industrial capacity should benefit other nuclear projects and give the UK opportunities to win global contracts in nuclear and other hi-tech engineering sectors.
Richard Bowman, Interim Managing Director, MEH Joint Venture, said, “Today marks an exciting milestone in our industry – forming the MEH Joint Venture and bringing together all tier one MEH and support services contractors to work in partnership with the Hinkley Point C project. It represents the start of a new way of working.
“Combined, the MEH Joint Venture operates over 13 nuclear licensed sites in the UK with 20,000 directly employed nuclear experts and over 65 years of experience. Uniting our expertise brings together a host of knowledge and experience in delivering safe nuclear design, construction, modification, maintenance and decommissioning.”
Stuart Crooks, Managing Director of Hinkley Point C said, “This new approach is a major example of innovation at Hinkley Point C which puts the interests of the whole project above those of any individual contractor. That co-ordination is good for contractors, pooling skills and expertise for everyone’s benefit. It also boosts UK industrial capacity and presents an opportunity to create jobs and skills by creating specialist pipework manufacturing in Britain.”
CGN UK CEO Zheng Dongshan said: “CGN warmly welcomes the establishment of the MEH Joint Venture, and the role played by our colleagues in CNPEC in bringing it about. We believe strongly that it will deliver huge benefits to the delivery of the Hinkley Point C project, and to the UK nuclear industry as a whole. We are deeply committed to this project and to new nuclear more generally in this country, and as part of that commitment we will continue to share the learning of CGN and CNPEC from the Taishan project and our wider experience as we develop industrial partnerships for the long term in the UK.”
The formation of the joint venture took place on site with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the individual companies and Hinkley Point C.
ENDS
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Notes to editors:
- The MEH joint venture, formed of Altrad, joint venture Balfour Beatty Bailey, Cavendish Nuclear and Doosan Babcock, was formed in 2018.
- MEH represents the scope of works to be delivered by the joint venture – Mechanical, Electrical, Heating and ventilation.
- The joint venture acts across Hinkley Point C, integrating and co-ordinating the collaborative delivery of all main mechanical and electrical, HVAC and cabling works on the UK’s first new nuclear power station in two decades.
- The joint venture is responsible for providing a Project Management Office role across the project, managing the scheduling and sequencing of all Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) activities on site, refining and harmonising the systems, processes, procedures, data and reporting to optimise works and enabling the delivery of a consolidated and aligned package of M&E activities across Hinkley Point C.
- Operating over 13 nuclear licensed sites in the UK with 20,000 directly employed nuclear experts and with over 65 years of experience, the Alliance brings a host of knowledge delivering safe nuclear design, decommissioning, modification, maintenance and construction.
- Previous successful collaboration includes;
- providing design and build construction, electrical, controls and instrumentation services, maintenance and enabling works at Sellafield from 1976 to 2014;
- electrical, mechanical and instruction works across URENCO from 1996 to present day;
- detailed design, outage planning and execution, maintenance, plant life extension and asset management for the Magnox sites alliance from 2006;
- delivery of industrial services including specialist access, thermal insulation, specialist coatings, environmental services, and storage tank repair and replacement in support of EDF Energy’s UK Nuclear fleet in 2009;
- mechanical and electrical installation services on multiple projects for the Atomic Weapons Establishment from 2011 to present day;
- decommissioning of the nuclear Dounreay site in 2012;
- supporting all outage planning and execution, maintenance, plant life extension and asset management of EDF’s Energy Fleet since 2013;
- decommissioning of the UK’s fleet of Magnox power stations from 2014 and;
- pile fuel cladding silo works on the waste retrievals project at Sellafield from 2017.
