Client
ALVANCE
Contact
James Tangney
Dates
Ongoing
Value
£23m
Area
12500 sqm
Status
Stage 4 Technical Design
““These transformational plans underline our commitment to investing in Scotland and our belief in the bright future of GREENALUMINIUM. Recycling aluminium saves 95% of the energy needed to produce primary aluminium…By utilising domestic scrap aluminium that is currently exported, we will nearly double production here at Fort William…The new facilities, alongside the Lochaber hydro plant, will create market-leading GREENALUMINIUM products that deliver for the environment as well as the economy.””
Sanjeev Gupta CEO and Chairman of GFG Alliance
‘Green Aluminium’ Industrial Facility at Fort William
Keppie recently successfully achieved a detailed planning consent for the circa 135,000 sqft Recycling & Billet Casting Facility for our client in Fort William.
The new industrial facility will produce 80 kilo-tonnes per annum (ktpa) of long, round shapes (‘billets’) for the domestic construction sector, which currently relies heavily on imports. The billets will supply domestic construction, building and transport sectors, supplanting some of the current dependency on imports.
With the current smelting processes already powered by zero emission hydro-electric power, the new addition of aluminium recycling and expansion into downstream billets will allow our client to manufacture some of the most sustainably produced billets in the world, giving it a competitive advantage as the demand for ‘green aluminium’ grows.
A key element that informed the design of the Recycling & Billet Casting Facility is an understanding of the existing site context and wider site topography. The unique and sensitive setting of Glen Nevis has greatly influenced the design and form of the proposed facility. The design solution has evolved as a result of detailed analysis of the existing site location and the specialist processes involved in the production of the billets. Keppie worked closely with the process specialist and consultant team to develop the architectural concept and ensure that the design is spatially coordinated with the process and engineering requirements for the facility.
Appropriate renewable technologies and passive design features are an inherent part of our architectural design approach, including north lights, solar PV, a thermally efficient envelope and rainwater harvesting and as noted, the new build facility will also use green energy from the existing hydro infrastructure to meet the key sustainability requirements of our client’s brief.