Blackburn Meadows Biomass Plant
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
- Client
- E.ON
- Expertise
- Architecture
- Landscape Architecture
- Lighting
- Completion
- 2015
Blackburn Meadows is a Biomass Power Plant generating energy by converting locally sourced waste wood into electricity. Located in Tinsley, Sheffield on the site of the former cooling towers, it acts as a new landmark signalling a major gateway to the city.
Blackburn Meadows is a landmark biomass power plant on the site of the former Tinsley cooling towers. The design responds to the historic precedents of the huge, black clad steel mills which can be found in the industrial landscape of the Lower Don Valley.
An orange translucent clad boiler house forms the key part of the plant and is illuminated from within, with silhouettes of silos and other elements made visible at night creating a landmark beacon. In addition to the power station, the project includes extensive landscaping, with a water meadow created on vacant land to the south to promote ecological biodiversity and flood water attenuation.
A visitors’ centre provides an educational resource for school parties and other interested groups. The feature backlighting to the boiler house cladding was achieved following detailed calculations using a number of night time site mock ups to calibrate the effect. The result is a striking night time ‘lantern’ with a minimal energy consumption of around 1500W.