Multi-million pound investment creates largest galvanizing bath in Yorkshire
A Hull-based metal finisher has completed a multi-million pound project to create the biggest galvanizing bath in Yorkshire.
Humber Galvanizing has increased capacity by 50% due to an expansion program that also includes the installation of other new tanks and a substantial extension of its yard.
The company’s extended site, at Citadel Way, will be officially opened by Karl Turner, MP for East Hull, next month.
Richard Speake, general manager of Humber Galvanizing, said: “This is a major investment that will increase both the number and size of the jobs we’re able to do and that extra capacity will also boost our turnover. It’s a project that will give us the infrastructure we need to ensure we’re ‘Fit for the Future’ and the kind of platform from which we can grow even stronger.”
Expansion of the site included groundwork to extend an existing pit for the new main bath, which measures 7.5m long, 1.2m wide and 2.7m deep.
Mr Speake added: “Our old bath wasn’t always big enough for some of the work that customers wanted and we’d have to send projects to one of our sister plants within the group. Now we have the size of bath that can cope with much longer lengths of steel and that will have fantastic implications for us moving forward.
“We’ve been at this site for 22 years and never up scaled before so we’ve moved with the times and it’s a historic moment for us. It is also a commitment to the future of the business.”
The plant has also invested in two new ‘triple acid’ baths, and made a number of health and safety improvements.
Upgraded handling equipment, together with the introduction of a transfer system and new forklift trucks, will increase safety within the site, while the plant has also reinforced its commitment to sustainability.
A digital furnace will improve efficiency and lead to predicted maintenance procedures, while a heat exchanger will harness heat that was previously lost, enabling it to be used elsewhere in the process.
Hull was the UK’s City of Culture for 2017, an initiative supported by Humber Galvanizing and which has prompted major investment in the area.
Mr Speake added: “A number of major renewable energy firms have built new plants here this year as part of the ‘Green Port’ campaign linked to City of Culture status.
“It encourages businesses to invest in the region and that’s something that will hopefully have benefits for us too. Our expansion gives us the ability and capacity to work closely with these companies and that’s an exciting prospect for everybody.”
