Caunton will be contributing to the construction of EDF Energy’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power station in Somerset. The company has been awarded the contract to provide a structural frame for a factory building at Bristol Port, Avonmouth, which will be used to manufacture precast concrete tunnel segments.

The segments will form the tunnels to carry cooling water for the power station. Three tunnel structures are required, two intake and one outfall. These will be constructed approximately 20m beneath the sea bed. Caunton will be involved in the construction of the factory that will make the tunnel segments, which weigh between 4.2 and 4.8 tonnes each.

The steel frame for the building is being designed, manufactured and erected by Caunton. It will be 14.5m in height and will be 36m wide by 150m long. Caunton is responsible for not only the near 500te steel frame but the cladding and the doors. The design is to EC3 to accommodate the crane loadings.