Where there’s muck there’s gas . . .

IT looks like the product of Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson’s imagination. Pipework crawls along the road, the trailer’s tyres keeping the precious load perfectly steady.

The load, known as a gasifier, has been shipped from Malaysia. It dwarfes terraced houses and their residents on its way to becoming the centrepiece of a Teesside wasteto- energy plant that its owners hope will leave competitors firmly in its shadow.

The advanced gasification plant, built by US firm Air Products, in Billingham, near Stockton, will be one of the largest of its kind in the world.

It is the UK’s first energy-from-waste power station to use plasma technology, which generates energy by burning domestic and commercial waste destined for landfill.

Bosses say it will take care of up to 350,000 tonnes of local waste every year, providing enough electricity to power about 50,000 homes, and they have plans to build a second plant on nearby land.

But it is not just North-East waste that the company has its eyes on – it is also assembling a 50-strong team from the region, including engineering and maintenance workers, to run the operation.

Built on Tees Valley enterprise zone land, the development has also supported about 700 North-East construction jobs, including a £3m contract for Middlesbrough-based Redhall Engineering to make and install pipework.

While it still looks like a building site, its metalwork and piping in various stages of completion, bosses say they hope the factory will start production next summer.

A world away from the dust and dirt, in the company’s smart Wynyard office, Andrew Connolly, Air Products’ Tees Valley facility manager, said: “This is an incredibly exciting development for us and when I was asked to lead the project I had no hesitation at all.

“You only have to look at how the skyline is changing out there to see what is happening and what this will mean.

“This is bringing value to the community by hiring people to work at the plant, supporting construction jobs during the build, and providing work through its constant maintenance.

“Everything is going well, we are on schedule, and have already started bringing the team together who will play an important part as we move towards the final stages and get ready for operation.

“The interviews for the remaining posts are taking place this week and we will be looking for a number of people to fill positions like technical operators and engineers to help push us forward.

“Around springtime we will start the commissioning and bit by bit start to get up to operation.”

Mr Connolly has worked across the world on Air Products’ projects, overseeing new plants in Holland in the 1990s, before moving to California to become the company’s Western America maintenance manager, and Houston, where he moved in 2009 to look after the company’s Houston area plant, distribution and operations.

Born in Colchester, Essex, his travelling has now brought him to Darlington, and he says the draw of the North-East was also a big pull for Air Products.

The mechanical engineering graduate said: “The area was absolutely key for us, we have been working in Teesside for a number of years and know the importance of maintaining and supporting a strong local company.

Andrew Connolly, of Air Products

“We previously had a hydrogen plant at Wilton, near Redcar, and former ICI factories in Billingham, so we know the area well and have a history here.

“We understand the capabilities of the workforce here and now we need to harness it again for this development, which is on an ideal site.

“But we also chose this area because of its historical links, availability of industrial land, good access to electricity networks and the National Grid, and excellent road links.

“We have also received terrific support from the local infrastructure and the attitude from everyone has been a positive one, from local people to the Government agencies, Stockton Borough Council and Tees Valley Unlimited local enterprise partnership.”

The plant is the spearhead of a proliferation of waste-to-energy factories that are set to create more North-East jobs and pump millions of pounds into the local economy.

The £8m Emerald Biogas plant, in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, will start converting food waste into energy later this year, creating eight jobs, while Earthly Energy now has permission to build a second plant at Wilton, with work already started on an anaerobic digestion plant in Middlesbrough.

Teesside-based Scott Brothers Group, alongside Devon company 02N, wants to create the UK’s biggest facility of its kind, the £75m Billingham Energy gasifier, on the old ICI Billingham site at Haverton Hill, with Sita UK and Sembcorp UK readying themselves to start a £1.2bn deal to turn more than 430,000 tonnes of Merseyside household waste into energy every year at Wilton.

Mr Connolly said the step was an obvious one, adding: “This isn’t something that has suddenly become fashionable, here we have something that can be used instead of existing and overused energy resources.

“There are big opportunities in this market and perfectly viable and valuable energy sources that mean we are not burning oil and gas.”

And while the skyline may be changing, and the plant moving ever closer to operations, Mr Connolly says he is just getting into one of the most exciting parts of his role that will really lay the foundations.

He said: “I love interviewing people and being able to create jobs, which a lot of people don’t have the opportunity to do, is something that I enjoy and take a lot of satisfaction from.

“Just look at what we are building; money is coming into the community, there are new posts for workers, and people have the chance to progress their careers.

“A big part of what makes this project is the people, and the human capital is just as important as the physical work itself.”

Stephen Catchpole, Tees Valley Unlimited managing director, said the plant was a major coup for the North-East.

An aerial shot of Air Products’ new Teesside plant. The gasifier is in the top right hand corner

He said: “I was fortunate to visit the site recently and was impressed to see how well it is progressing.

“Looking at plans and artist’s impressions is one thing, but to experience the sheer size and scale of the equipment being installed on the site is quite breathtaking.

“The site was buzzing with construction workers and representatives from numerous support services and the team at Air Products said their initial recruitment process has been successful using the enthusiasm and support from the local supply chain and its skills and expertise.

“There cannot be many projects of this size under construction anywhere else in the UK.

“Tees Valley is once again showing how well we do large-scale development, how we help the country in terms of energy production, and how we lead the way in the advancement of a low carbon agenda using new technology.

“Renewable energy is an exciting opportunity for Tees Valley.

“It fits with our green agenda offering jobs and investment in the immediate term and could in the future help our existing process sector in terms of power and feedstock availability.

“It is encouraging to see traditional engineering skills being at the heart of a brand new reinvention of the Tees Valley area.”