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Waterdale Waste Transfer Station

We provided consultancy services to Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) on the potential development of their existing waste infrastructure at Waterdale, Watford.

Project name

Client

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC)

Location

Waterdale, Watford

Services provided

- Project Management

- Design

Challenge

We were initially asked to analyse the existing Waste Transfer Station (WTS) and Recycling Centre (HWRC) facilities at Waterdale and develop a plan to improve the current operations while maintaining site operations.

The WTS currently operates above its capacity with the operations necessary to process waste quantities, preventing the site from meeting the environmental standards expected of a modern waste facility.

The HWRC was shown to cause significant queuing that extends onto the busy A405 road along with WTS traffic. The combination of traffic disruption and health concerns have led to complaints from local residents.

The site is a former bus coachyard adjacent to the WTS within the Green Belt. Common pipistrelle bats were present in the existing coachyard building, which required mitigation.

The WTS and a HWRC to the North, with a shared access had to remain operational throughout the works, presenting a significant challenge. The construction of any design proposed needed to be phased to allow continued traffic to each facility. The coachyard site is compact and required careful consideration of the layout, to ensure a safe and functioning operating area and traffic route that wouldn’t risk causing issues on the adjacent A405.

The design also had to consider possible future upgrades to the WTS, particularly with power and utilities. This required ensuring that what is laid can supply future works and will not need re-routing.

A further challenge arose when the site changed from a Source Protection Zone 2 to Zone 1 during the planning application process. This required rework to the entire drainage strategy and additional investigations at short notice to meet the higher requirements of this site category.

Solution

We completed an initial options appraisal of the overall site, looking at extending/upgrading or rebuilding each facility, changing locations of site facilities within the site boundary and whether HCC’s request for waste shredding capabilities could be retained within the WTS or in a self-contained building.

When the land adjacent to the south boundary was purchased by the Council, we undertook an assessment of how to utilise the additional land for the wider site development. We produced multiple layout options as part of a site masterplan, and with HCC’s approval, we decided a three phased approach was the best solution.

The project was under greater public scrutiny due to the nature of the existing site operations and close proximity to residential areas. With public relations a priority of HCC, we developed the design to create minimal public disruption and an overall improvement to the current site operations. Our team attended site consultations to answer questions and complete bioaerosol monitoring at the public's request.

We prepared documentation to secure an appropriate planning approval and completed the detailed design for a new waste shredding building. This included dealing with operational constraints, identifying an area of search with reference to a designated area in the adopted Hertfordshire Waste Core Strategy and then evolving search criteria to be applied to find potential alternative sites.

Following this, we produced a scheme for developing the site, which involved initial design, planning application and approval, detailed construction design, discharge of planning conditions, construction support and construction design and management (CDM).

The new shredding building will operate in conjunction with the existing Waterdale WTS, processing approximately 30,000 tonnes of bulky waste per annum that would otherwise route to the WTS. This will support an initial improvement to operations and the construction of the WTS extension without closing the site.