Nottinghamshire-based A1 Flue Systems (www.a1flues.co.uk), which specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of commercial and industrial chimney, flue and exhaust systems, has completed a contract on one of the chimneys at Battersea Power Station in London.

In February last year, the company announced that it had secured a multi-million-pound contract to make chimney systems to be installed inside two of the four 113m-tall wash towers and chimneys at the Grade II listed building.

Now that the chimney sections which link the south-west chimney to the satellite energy centre have been installed, all commissioning and steam tests have been conducted on the system, which has resulted in a small plume rising from the chimney.

A1 Flue Systems managing director John Hamnett said: “Battersea Power Station has been a huge project for A1 Flue Systems — one that has been a decade in development — so to see steam finally coming out of the chimney is a very proud moment for us.

"It is the result of a lot of hard work by our dedicated teams of engineers, manufacturers and installers to produce a modular chimney system that could be built in sections at our factory in Ollerton and then craned into position.”

The chimneys were refurbished as part of the redevelopment of the decommissioned coal-fired power station into residential properties, shops, restaurants and office space — and A1 was contracted to design a flue system that could fit inside them.

The company developed eight 7m-tall modular sections, which were craned up to the top of the chimneys and carefully lowered into position.

It was an extremely tight installation, with as little as 50mm free on either side of the wash towers.

Within each of the modular sections, there were 950mm, 850mm and 675mm diameter flues — now connected to the boilers and combined heat and power engines at the site’s energy centre.