Veolia's celebrated the official opening of its Leeds Recycling and Energy Recovery Facility in the north of England on 15 November. Built under contract with the Leeds City Council, the plant is to process around 214,000 tonnes of residual waste per year and has a design electrical output of 11MW. When Veolia first landed the contract to design, build, and operate the waste facility in 2012, it put the total value of the 25-year contract at around £460m (then €580m, now €536m).
The visually striking facility, with its central timber arches reaching 123 m high, was designed by the French architect Jean-Robert Mazaud of S’pace Architects. The timber for the arched main structure was supplied by the German wood construction specialist Hess Timber. Veolia notes that, that at 1,800 square meters, the facility's wall is Europe's largest vertical "living wall.
Construction began on the plant in 2013 and wrapped up this past spring. Built by the French plant engineering and construction company CNIM, the facility will now be operated be Veolia for the remainder of its contract with the Council.
