Energy from Waste Plant, Wakefield

This facility combines household waste recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion, energy‑recovery facilities and a visitor centre to deliver district‑wide waste services on a single site.

With multiple interdependent systems, success relied on process and building design working closely together.

Bringing complex systems together

Our project and programme delivery team joined during the Preferred Bidder phase, building on an existing relationship with the contractor and a shared understanding of the project’s biggest challenge – poor integration between the process design and the main building works.

Working closely with designers, suppliers and construction teams, we mapped the key interfaces, including the interaction between specialist process equipment and core building elements such as the structure, façade, sub-structure and MEP services.

FLOW, our data-driven scheduling tool, identified potential delays by highlighting information‑dependency loops within the planned sequence of work. Through targeted workshops, we turned these insights into practical steps the team could use straight away.

Redefining our strategy under pressure

After two false starts reaching financial close, we worked with the contractor, design teams and supply chain to rebuild a clear, coordinated schedule to reduce rework and optimise sequencing.

The revised schedule became a central tool during the design phase, helping teams stay focused on critical interfaces between process systems and the building design. Alongside progress tracking, we developed dashboard reporting to highlight emerging risks, key milestones and potential impacts on construction – giving the team clear information they could act on quickly.

Confident, informed decision-making

The biggest risk was failing to integrate process design with the building requirements. With multiple specialist systems developing in parallel, even small gaps in coordination could have caused major disruption later in the programme.

Through early coordination and clear sequencing, we kept those interfaces under control – supporting delivery across design, procurement and construction, and helping the team avoid delay damages worth hundreds of thousands of pounds per week.

Despite repeated delays, we quickly re-established a clear plan, kept teams focused and gave the project a more manageable path forward.

Delivering an interconnected waste management site

Our work improved how design, supply chain and construction came together.

By bringing structure and coordination to a complex programme, we helped create a facility where multiple systems could fit together naturally, supporting long-term waste management infrastructure for the Wakefield district.