Britcon has earned a construction contract worth £13.5m to deliver a Dagenham-based anaerobic digestion plant on behalf of food waste recycling company ReFood (UK) Ltd.

The £32m site is set to become the South of England’s leading integrated anaerobic digestion (AD) plant dedicated to food waste.

The company’s appointment comes after its construction of a £24m Widnes-based plant which was completed two years ago, as well as a £20m site built in 2011 in Doncaster.

The construction of these sites has propelled ReFood to become the market leader in Europe for recycling food chain by-products and across the continent operates 11 AD sites.

The new Dagenham facility shall be able to recycle 160,000 tonnes of food waste every year, while also generating in excess of 2,000m2/hr of methane gas.

By applying gas to grid (G2G) technology the methane is to be upgraded to emulate the quality of natural gas, meaning it can be directly injected in to the national grid, meaning enough power will be produced to power over 10,000 homes in the UK.

The site is to be built in the London Sustainable Industries Park (SIP), Dagenham Dock and is due to open its doors next summer following the end of the 66-week construction programme.

The work will also include the construction of a modern office complex, as well as a de-packaging building.

John Whitmore, Britcon Director, said the company was delighted to be once again working for ReFood (UK) in constructing the company’s third UK AD plant.

Mr Whitmore added that Britcon were successful in securing another contract with ReFood (UK) thanks to their record of providing an experienced manner to construction, providing flexibility and full delivery of plans.

Meanwhile, Paul Morris, ReFood (UK) Operations Director, said that Britcon have shown themselves to be highly proficient and experienced in such a complex part of construction whilst agreeing with our agenda for sustainability.