Going nuclear means growth for European Heathyards

The first step for European Heathyards, a tube manipulation, high integrity welding and pressure vessel manufacturer, has been to open a purpose-built nuclear facility at its site on Maybrook Road, in Brownhills.

The new 10,000 sq ft fully equipped workshop, built and commissioned in under 16 months, houses two 10 tonne overhead cranes and provides the firm with a clean, secure manufacturing environment with the added security of biometric-controlled restricted access.

The fully sealed unit, which also includes office space and a bonded store, expands the business to move into the field of nuclear decommissioning and new power generation plant markets, with a view to expanding Heathyard's market share within the petrochemical sector.

The investment in the new facility, formerly used as an outside storage area, is expected to create 15-20 new jobs over the following 12 to 18 months. It is also estimated to increase turnover at the company by as much as 30 per cent over the same sort of time span.

European Heathyard's technical director, Arran Nash, said: "Our new workshop is an important step in advancing our capability in the thriving nuclear sector."

He said the company had been pre-qualified by the Achilles UVDB auditing business for work with its network of member companies such as EDF Energy and is currently part of the 'fit for nuclear' programme, which prepares companies to work as part of the highly demanding industry. "This will expand European Heathyards capabilities to deliver large scale contracts for key players in the nuclear and petrochemical industry, said Mr Nash.

The investment European Heathyards has made in the new workshop and machinery has been reinforced with a significant amount of time and investment spent achieving certification in several quality standards.

Currently accredited to the globally recognised ISO 9001 quality management system and ISO 14001 environmental management system the company is completing the second phase of BS OHSAS 18001 occupational health and safety management with the second phase due for completion this month.

Having achieved accreditation to ASME U Stamp (boilers and pressure vessels), the business has started the initial consultation, with the view to achieving accreditation for ASME S-stamp (power boiler) ASME PP-stamp (power piping) & ASME R-Stamp (repairs and alterations).

Securing these stamps of approval will put European Heathyards in a strong position to win work within the industry.

To that end, the company is now entering the second phase towards accreditation of BS EN 1090 'execution of steel structures and aluminium structures'.

European Heathyards was established in 1974 and has built a reputation as a trusted fabricator of tube, plate and section structures from its 110,000 sq ft of workshop and storage space at Brownhills, equipped with a lifting capacity of 100 tons for the largest jobs.

Earlier this month it completed 24 heat exchanger units for an international process technology company in the mining and iron ore industry. The manufacturing process took more than 40,000 hours over 52 weeks at factory.