It’s been a busy year for Moto Hospitality’s site redevelopment programme, culminating in the completion of Chieveley Services, one of Eurotank’s biggest projects on a single site to date.
Chieveley was the 10th project to be carried out by Eurotank Environmental and Eurotank Installations this year, and involved tank lining, tank decommissioning, new tank lids and fittings, a full repump, a full repipe and electrical works – all while keeping the forecourt’s fuel flowing.
Noman Farooqui, Project Manager for Moto Hospitality, says: “Moto’s redevelopment strategy focuses on upgrading infrastructure to improve safety, sustainability, and customer experience while minimising downtime which is all about transforming the rest stop experience.
“Chieveley is a compact but extremely busy site, and with the tank farm located in a less-than-ideal position, a lot of thought had to go into planning to ensure operations weren’t severely restructured. Eurotank took this into consideration from the outset, making sure the works were delivered without compromising day-to-day trading.
“The Chieveley project has been a fantastic achievement for Moto,” adds Noman. “Thanks to a carefully phased approach, we were able to keep the site fully operational throughout the works – something that was absolutely critical for our customers and our business. Managing multiple stakeholders on such a busy site was challenging at times, but Eurotank really understood the brief and made sure fuel deliveries and customer access remained top priority.”
Tank works
Eurotank Environmental (EE) was the first division on site to take measurements of the tanks using our Calibex laser calibration equipment. These measurements were sent off for the Fastliner bladder liners to be made to measure in factory conditions. EE lined a total of six tanks using this system.
“We chose Fastliner as the tank lining system because it offers long-term reliability and compliance, and crucially, it allows below-ground tanks to be protected in a short amount of time,” says Noman. “Traditional tank relining can be laborious, often leaving grades out of action for weeks, but Fastliner helped us avoid that. Throughout the project, we ensured unleaded and diesel were always available – a challenge in itself, but one that Eurotank managed exceptionally well.”
The EE team also decommissioned two tanks using foam injection.
Construction works
The site upgrade included a full repipe using plastic pipework, and this proved to be one of the most challenging aspects of the project. “Chieveley presented some unique challenges, including pipework encased in concrete, which could have caused major delays,” explains Noman. “Eurotank’s expertise meant these obstacles were overcome without significant setbacks.”
Traditionally, petrol stations were built using steel pipework with a concrete surround of 300-400 mm around the pipework from outside of the tank chamber until it reached its destination of the pump cradle. Rarely, the cradle was also filled with concrete to allow the heavy weight of the pipes to stay in place as well as offering protection from corrosion due to its alkaline environment, which slows down corrosion.
Ashley Bithell, Eurotank Installations Contract Manager, explains what Eurotank found and how the team tackled the challenge: “What we uncovered at Moto Chieveley was an average of 700-800mm of concrete around the pipes. The timely process of breaking this concrete in such a way as to not cause damage while the site continued to trade was painstakingly slow and delicate, with the team having to hand break around live fuel lines. We have replaced all the steel pipework and the team put a hell of a lot of effort into achieving this on a live forecourt.”
Full repump
The Chieveley redevelopment included all new retail and HGV pumps. A total of seven retail dispensers and six HGV pumps were installed, giving the site a new lease of life and hugely improving the customer fuelling experience.
Noman concludes: “Moto and Eurotank’s relationship has gone from strength to strength over the years. They understand what we are trying to achieve and always work to facilitate our needs, which is great to see reciprocated in their contracts. Understanding the client’s needs is as important as the work itself—and Eurotank consistently delivers on both.”