Edwards’ mega-installation is one of Scottish engineering’s largest
9 Dec 2019
Edwards Engineering has completed a £4.5 million installation of a new furnace building at the Superglass Insulation Stirling site that will double its annual production capacity of glass wool.
The 18-month project involved the addition of a new 187-tonne furnace over the top of an existing building that remained in use.
Designed by Architects Space and engineered by CRA Consulting Engineers, the upper part of the furnace was modelled using Edward’s 3D modelling system. The firm also manufactured and installed a 4 metres wide bridge walkway, high capacity wedge shaped batch silos, insulated ducting and numerous access stairs and platforms.
Edwards Engineering managing director Sandy Kirk said: “This was one of the bigger projects of this kind we have worked on and was challenging both from an engineering and programming perspective.
“The cladding used was 175mm thick, rated for two hour fire protection and had to be installed using specialist machinery and cranes that meant additional plant and resources were required to maintain the very tight programme.”
Superglass chief production officer Mark Atherton, said completion would take the company beyond environmental compliance and permit the plant to double its output within two years.
He added that the project was one of the largest of its kind for Scottish engineering, with a total project value exceeding £37 million.
Glass wool insulation produced by Superglass is made from up to 84% recycled glass products from post-consumer waste. Edwards said that research demonstrates that, that over its lifetime, a typical glass wool product saves over 300 times the energy used in its manufacture and transport.
