Today from site, the latest images of the bespoke Corten steel columns at the Dominican Order of Preachers centre in George Square, Edinburgh.

On behalf of client Ashwood (Scotland), Blake Group’s Fabrications Division has completed the manufacture and installation of four unique Corten steel support columns for Scotland’s Dominican Order of Preachers Centre at George Square, Edinburgh.

The striking steel structures will become the main architectural features of the new extension to the centre and stand at a height of 3.8m and weigh approximately one tonne each.

Jonathan Blake, Technical Director of Blake Group comments, “Taking centre stage at the Dominican Order of Preachers chapel, the columns were originally designed to be made from stainless steel, but as the project progressed Corten was chosen as the preferred material due to its naturalistic look and feel opposed to the shininess of stainless.”

The new building will provide ground floor and disabled access to the Chapel through George Square Lane to the rear of the Chaplaincy. Access to other community areas will be easier as there will be no stairs between the Chapel and the café and toilet areas.

Please visit the chapel’s website to find out more about the project and the Dominican Order of Preachers in Scotland: Keeping The Door Open

For further details on Ashwood (Scotland) http://www.ashwoodscotland.co.uk/

Blake Group’s Fabrications Division recently collected the highly coveted “Pride In The Job” Award presented by Miller Homes for steel works at the housebuilders landmark development ‘Varcity’ .

Commercial Manager Brian Matchett who heads up the Fabrications Division collected the Award at an industry event held at Point Hotel in Edinburgh.

Brian comments, “This is the fourth year in a row Blake Group has collected a ‘Pride In The Job’ Award from Miller Homes.  It is testimony to the high quality of work and professionalism of the team who time after time deliver excellence in engineering.”

Blake Group has worked closely with Miller Homes throughout the whole build programme of Varcity.  Now in its 5th phase, Varcity is the largest development of its type in the Capital.  Blake Group is responsible for the manufacturing and installation of stairs, balconies, handrails and general steelworks, the works equating to a contract value exceeding £2m.

Click Here To Find Out More About Varcity

As part of an extensive refurbishment of the famous Bridge Inn at Ratho, the Fabrication Division recently completed the manufacturing and installation of a bespoke outdoor decking area which included balcony structural steel, stairs, glass balustrade and chrome handrails.

With experience of working in confined and difficult to reach locations the team installed the outdoor area with minimal disturbance to the day to day business of the Bridge Inn, the local community and those enjoying a summer break on the canal.

Situated in a stunning and picturesque setting on the banks of the Union Canal, the Bridge Inn is a unique pub and restaurant.  Acquired in 2010 by the new proprietors Graham and Rachel Bucknall, the couple have a passion for locally sourced fresh foods and quality service available in a warm and welcoming riverside country pub.

Blake Group’s Environmental Tanks Division has just completed the design and manufacture of two OFS T200 integrally-bunded steel tanks for the British Pipeline Agency Ltd (BPA).

BPA is a joint venture between BP Oil UK and Shell UK. The company owns and operates the UK oil pipeline network of oil and gas pipelines which transport petroleum products and natural gas around the UK.

The larger tank will be used for Product Recovery and has a capacity of 20,000Litres whilst the smaller tank will be used as a Corrosion Inhibitor tank with a capacity of 2,000Litres.

Both tanks are destined for UKOP (UK Pipeline Networks) Compound in Canvey Island that distributes fuel throughout the UK to key locations including airports such as Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted.

As part of Edinburgh’s Parliament House refurbishment programme, a joint team from Blake Group’s Fabrications Division and Environmental Tanks Division set about manufacturing new air intake plenum boxes and vent stacks with lobster back bends painted internally and externally for contractor Arthur McKay.

Parliament House in Edinburgh, Scotland, was home to the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland, and now houses the Supreme Courts of Scotland. It is located in the Old Town, just off Edinburgh’s High Street, beside St Giles Cathedral.

Testimony to the professionalism and superior service provided, Arthur McKay has won a prestigious Facilities Management Services contract for the Scottish Court Service with a contract value estimated at £30m for a 4 year period and includes an option to extend by a further 2 years.

Northumbrian Water Ltd both directly and through specialist contractors JN Bentley and Byzak, has chosen Blake Group to ensure compliance with the Water Industry Mechanical & Electrical Specification (WIMES) and the latest regulations for safe oil storage on their sites throughout the North East of England.

Designed and certified to OFS T200 and complying with The Control of Pollution Regulations and Environment Agency guidelines, a wide variety of oil storage tanks have been manufactured. The fully bunded tanks incorporate a number of features to ensure total control and safety:

• Electronic Contents Level Gauge
• Combined Overfill, Low-Level and Bund Alarm with relays
• Security Hatch with lockable Roller-Shutter Door
• Overfill Prevention Valve
• High quality paint finish including shotblasting

In a feature published in WET News, Blake Group Managing Director Ronnie Blake commented, “Guidance to above ground oil storage is becoming a minefield.  The simplest way for those in the water industry to comply with all regulations is to follow WIMES”.

To read the article, “Steel Makes Good Sense” click HERE
To read the latest issue of WET News click HERE

On special request from National Museums Scotland (NMS), Blake Group was asked to assist in the recreation of a Giant Sloth, putting together replica fibreglass bones taken from a cast of a real specimen that had been in storage for over 50 years.

The Giant Sloth is one of the key dinosaur skeletons to go on show at the recently relaunched National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, which has had a £41million make-over.

Working closely with biologists and staff from NMS, Blake Group’s Specialist Projects Team spent over two months painstakingly creating a steel structure the skeleton bones could safely sit on.

Standing upright at over 15ft in height the Giant Sloth was certainly the most interesting of projects the Team had ever come across, but with perseverance and patience, at cast model was finally returned to its former glory.

Blake Group also assisted the National Museum of Scotland with steel frames for a variety of animals including Wallaby’s, Peacocks and even a Devils Toe-nail (you’ll have to visit the museum to find out what that is!).

Click here for Animal World

SCOTTISH REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR SAFE STORAGE OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

Revised Oil Storage Regulations for Scotland came into force on the 1st April 2006. The Water Environment (Oil Storage) (Scotland) Regulations 2006, require that any fuel/oil storage tank capable of holding 200 litres or more to have secondary containment in the form of a drip tray or bund. The scope includes all tanks, drums, IBC’s (intermediate bulk storage containers) or mobile bowsers.

Storage tank bunds, or catchpits, should be impermeable to petroleum products and water and be capable of holding 110% of the primary tank or, if more than one tank, 25% of the aggregate volume (whichever is the greater). The bund may be either a conventional constructed bund or a proprietary prefabricated tank in bund (see Figure 1), which can be either open bunded or enclosed bunded. The advantage of the latter is that there is no ingress of rainwater and, therefore, there are no contaminated water disposal costs every few months as with open bunds. Furthermore, all bunds should have no drain openings or drain valves.

It is also important to note that Regulations 6-7(bb) of the Oil Storage Regulations requires the bund and tank to be positioned to minimise any risk of damage by impact. This means that in quarries, building sites or busy transport, warehousing yards storage tanks, especially plastic tanks, should be protected by a crash barrier or similar means if they are near moving plant.

Regulations 6 (2) states ” The oil stocks shall be stored in a container which is of sufficient strength and structural integrity, and has been installed so as to ensure that it is unlikely to burst or leak in its ordinary use.

PPG2 SEPA’S Pollution Prevention Guidenote states -
To ensure compliance with the regulations, it is recommended that storage tanks should be type tested to a recognised standard and produced to that standard under a quality assurance system complying with ISO 9001. Steel tanks should comply with BS799, Part 5 (Reference 5) of OFS T 200. Polyethylene tanks should conform to OFS T100 (Reference 1). It is recommended that the tank installers are registered to ISO 9002. BS799 only covers single skin tanks. OFS T200 is based on BS799 but incorporates the requirements of the Water Environment (Oil Storage)(Scotland) Regulations 2006 for secondary containment.

Type of Oils
The Regulations apply to any kind of oil including petrol, diesel, mineral oil, heating oil, lubricating oil, waste oil, vegetable and plant oil but does not include uncut bitumen as it was considered this material would solidify in the vicinity of any spillage. The Storage of Agricultural Fuel Oil is now controlled by these Regulations and Regulation 8 removes oil storage from the Control of Pollution (Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil) (Scotland) Regulations 2003.

SCOTTISH LEGISLATION

Staged Implementation
The Regulations will come into force in 3 stages following. These stages are:

1. new tanks (i.e facilities commenced after 1 April 2006) will have to comply within 6 months (1 October 2006)

2. existing tanks at significant risk (i.e. facilities that are located within 10 metres of any surface water or 50 metres of a borehole or well will have to comply within 2 years (1 April 2008).

3. remaining existing tanks will have to comply within 4 years (1 April 2010).

Uncut bitumen is specifically excluded from the definition of oil within the Regulations and is therefore exempt. Bitumen based products which are liquid at normal ambient temperatures e.g. bitumen emulsion, should be stored in accordance with the regulations.

The relevant provisions of Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994 (as amended) will also apply to handling and storage of waste oil.

Avoiding Risk
So, how do you avoid the risk of non-compliance? The first thing to do is to have a comprehensive survey carried out of all fuel or oils stored on the premises. This should include a risk assessment of ‘significant risk’. The survey should be carried out by a competent person. Their survey report should cover all aspects of the installation, including bunding, ancillary equipment, oil spill control and service and maintenance records.

The report should prioritise any necessary remedial works required and the ‘significant risk’ items should be rectified immediately by a competent person, preferably holding an OFTEC OFT/600A certificate. A plan should then be drawn up to bring all the other installations into regulatory compliance by the cut off date of April 2010.

Safe Installations
There are three other points that are vital to a safe installation. Firstly, however good the installation it needs a proper maintenance and service schedule to keep it up to standard. Secondly, the responsible person needs adequate training in receiving petroleum products, knowledge of the ancillary equipment and the use of oil spill materials. Lastly, it should be noted that the oil distribution industry may not deliver to any tanks that do not conform to the regulations as, if a pollution incident occurred, they may be also held liable.

Key differences between Regulations in Scotland and England
Oil Storage regulations are also in force in England under the Control of Pollution (Oil Storage)(England) Regulations 2005.

The requirements of the Regulations can differ with the following key differences:

1. Regulations in Scotland apply to domestic storage above 2500 litres and English Regulations are above 3500 litres.

2. Regulations in Scotland apply to storage of waste oil whereas waste oil storage is exempt under the English Regulations.

3. Regulations in Scotland apply to storage of oil in building where as storage within buildings is exempt under the English Regulations.

4. Regulations in Scotland exempt storage of oil in any installation which is a schedule 1 part A Activity of the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000 or Schedule 1 Part A process of the Environment Protection (Prescribed Processes and Substances) Regulations 1991 and premises used as an oil distribution depot for the onward distribution of oil to other places. The English Regulation only exempt storage of oil at premises used for refining oil for the onward distribution of oil to other places.