Hull’s eco-friendly construction materials plant remains on track for a July launch.
The Tricoya plant at Saltend had been hit by the loss of the lead contractor and Covid-related delays, adding around £10 million to the cost, it revealed late last year.
Now Accsys, the business leading the joint venture project, has given a trading update to the City, having taken project management in-house.
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The statement from the firm, listed on both the UK and Dutch markets, said: “Progress at Hull continues in line with our previous expectations. Construction-based workstreams are largely complete, and commissioning of mechanical and electrical systems are well underway. We continue to work towards plant commercial operations in July 2022.”
The total investment should come in between £77 million and £82 million.
Accsys is now pressing on with a US plant, as it reported group revenues of £76.4 million for the 10 months to January 31. In the period, it sold virtually 50,000 sq m of the material that combines timber with advanced chemistry to improve strength and widen use.
It has been described as the first major innovation in the wood composites industry in more than 30 years, with Hull bringing further capacity and geography to the original Arnhem site
The company said demand remains strong, despite a 2 per cent dip on the previous year’s output due to production downtime as a fourth reactor was installed to enhance capacity. It will come online in the next month, providing the ability to produce a further 20,000 sq m annually, taking production to 80,000 sq m. The UK and US developments, the latter anticipated within a three-year period, should take that figure beyond 200,000 sq m.
A total of 30 jobs are anticipated beneath the 185ft acetylation tower that has been installed east of Hull.
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