Stanton Bonna, a leading UK manufacturer of precast concrete pipes, manholes and culverts for drainage as part of a comprehensive range of precast offsite solutions for the construction industry, has invested in a Rapid International concrete batching plant for its Derbyshire, England, site to help support its growth plans.
The company’s previous ‘WINGET’ Large Diameter (LDP) batching plant with WINGET pan mixers, was a tower-type plant erected in the 1950’s. Due to its age and condition, the plant became inherently unreliable. Stanton Bonna faced breakdowns, high maintenance costs, difficulty sourcing spare parts, reduced mixing speeds, inconsistency and lower than desired capacities.
Without major refurbishment, Stanton Bonna recognised its old plant would continue to deteriorate and affect production of the current product ranges it supplied. This, coupled with the company’s strategic plan for growth, demanded the requirement for upgraded manufacturing methods.
Rapid International collaborated with Stanton Bonna to develop a totally bespoke tower batching plant system, which would meet the desired increase in efficiency and concrete volume demand. The tower configuration was essential, as according to Rob Fifer, Major Projects director – Stanton Bonna, explains: “One of the key reasons for selecting the Rapid plant was its compact footprint.”
The new state-of-the-art plant, which includes two Rapid planetary mixers, produces around 80m³ of concrete per hour. Featuring an integral Rapid Jetwash high pressure (2000psi) mixer washout system, clean out is offered via auto-cleaning functionality.
Due to the plant’s six 60-tonne aggregate bins the number of ground bunkers have been restricted, as minimal product is stored at grade with more lifted to high level. This has virtually eliminated the need to use the loading shovel, increasing efficiency.
The new Rapid batching plant platforms allows for maximum access for maintenance and cleaning, on four levels, maintenance; mixer; weigh hopper; and aggregate rotary conveyor; access to all levels is by stairs.
To ensure maximum output of concrete in adverse weather conditions, Stanton Bonna opted for winterisation measures, including composite cladding, lined doors and the provision to inject hot air into the bottom of the aggregate storage bins.
Commenting on the collaborative design process, Fifer remarked: “Rapid was certainly very responsive to any questions we had, both during the design and implementation phases of the project.”
Paul Gamble – Project Manager, Stanton Bonna, added: “Rapid was excellent. The company was very proactive, worked very safely, was very much on the ball and completed the work in a very timely manner.”
