Civils contractor ISC has been awarded a £34 million contract by the Cory Group (Cory) to build a Waste Transfer Station (WTS) facility by the River Thames in Barking. ISC, the civil engineering arm of materials group GRS, is the principal contractor for the River Road waste scheme, a key part of Cory’s Riverside 2 development. This new energy-from-waste (EfW) plant will divert 550,000 tonnes of non-recyclable waste from landfill each year and generate electricity for the equivalent of 176,000 homes.

The Barking WTS will provide additional capacity for handling and transporting waste destined for Riverside 2, which is currently under construction in Belvedere on the south side of the river. Uniquely, Cory transports the majority of the waste it processes via its fleet of tugs and barges on the River Thames, removing around 100,000 lorry movements from London’s roads every year. Riverside 2 is expected to remove another 80,000 lorry movements.

The project involves modernising some of the existing site facilities, reactivating a Safeguarded Wharf, and delivering a new purpose-built industrial WTS building on a designated Safeguarded Waste Site. The modernisation of the site represents a substantial investment by Cory, which currently processes waste for nine boroughs in London and the South East.

One of the two berths, Rippleway Wharf, is to be reconstructed to allow container stacking and the loading of barges. This means the modernised waste facility will shift operations from road-to-road to road-to-river, resulting in a reduction in waste vehicles on the road.

In line with Cory’s use of river freight, ISC will use Thames barges to remove most of the demolition waste, spoil, and dredged material for recycling, as well as for the delivery of aggregates and other construction materials.

Darren Quinton, Managing Director of ISC, said: “We are proud to be leading such an important project that showcases our civil engineering capabilities as principal contractor. The Riverside 2 development is a transformative project, particularly in the areas of sustainability and innovation, and it’s a great one for the team to be part of.”

“We’ve wasted no time in getting onto site at River Road for site preparation and demolition of existing structures, and our team is fully committed to delivering the project to the highest standards our customers have come to expect of ISC.”

Chris Girdham, Development Director at Cory, said: “We are pleased to be working with ISC on this project, which will bring over £50 million of investment into Barking and maximise the potential of the site. As well as providing essential capacity for London’s non-recyclable waste, this project will also allow us to reduce the environmental impact of the site on local ecology, reduce pollution, and, through the use of the River Roding for transport of materials, substantially improve air quality across London.”