Sellafield Limited, Capenhurst Site, Cheshire

Hughes and Salvidge undertook asbestos removal, soft stripping and demolition of over 10,000 square metres of warehousing and office structures on the Sellafield Capenhurst nuclear site.

Security clearance was required for all site staff on this project due to the sensitive nature of the site. All staff were put through the required training and gained the required passes in order to work at Sellafield.

In the 1950s, one of the buildings was used as a munitions factory, therefore, stringent control measures were put in place during soft strip activities due to the possibility of live ammunition being found. Our method statements and risk assessments placed particular emphasis on the risk of discovering live ammunition and laid out strict guidelines for discovery. All munitions found were collected, stored appropriately and passed back to Sellafield Limited (now Capenhurst Nuclear Services).

Following our successful completion of the Sellafield project, Hughes and Salvidge were awarded further decommissioning works on the Capenhurst site for URENCO.

Dave Evans, Minor Projects Engineer on Capenhurst said “I would like to pass on my personal thanks to your demolition/ asbestos removal team who undertook the work. They worked through exacting timescales to complete the required work, so as to enable de-designation of the land in time for the transition of Sellafield to Capenhurst Nuclear Services. As on previous occasions, this work has been carried out on time and within budget; a great achievement, and as before all without a lost time accident. Although this was the first time Sellafield worked with Hughes and Salvidge we worked well together and I hope we as Capenhurst Nuclear Services can do similar work in the future.”