The Birkenhead-based engineering company Cammell Laird (www.clbh.co.uk) has announced that it is ramping up its activity in the nuclear sector after being awarded around £200,000 of Government funding for its Fit for Modules project to develop the concept of building off-site modules for nuclear new-build projects.

Jonathan Brown, managing director of Cammell Laird’s energy division, said that the funding from the Department of Business and Energy will be used to run a series of events examining how best to build and test large modules at ‘off-site’ locations before transporting them to nuclear sites for installation.

He said there are many advantages to building off-site, including cost savings, more-efficient build and schedule times and avoiding the need to recruit a large temporary workforce to build on-site. The Fit for Modules project is also being supported by the Nuclear AMRC, Arup, Fraser Nash and Laing O’Rourke.

Mr Brown added: “With an extensive track record of building large modules — up to 5,000 tonnes for the aircraft carrier programme and the RSS Sir David Attenborough polar ship — we will now apply our maritime experience to the nuclear industry.

“Our aim is to bring together key industry players, including end users and supply chain companies, to brainstorm the challenges and propose solutions.

“We plan to publish a final report with our findings in April next year, detailing areas for improvement — known as ‘interventions’. The report will then be considered by the Government, which will run further programmes to implement the agreed interventions.”

Mr Brown said that working out the best way to build a supply chain would be a prime objective of the Fit for Modules project.

“The nuclear new-build programme estimates a potential spend up to £100 billion over 30 years. It is therefore imperative that — as an industry — we make the programme work from a cost and schedule perspective, stripping out waste and any unnecessary expense.

“Building modules off-site is one way to make the new-build process much more efficient, cost-effective and less risky for our investors.”