[source: Avingtrans]
Booth Industries, a subsidiary of the Avingtrans (AVG ), which designs, manufactures and supplies critical components, modules, systems and associated services to the energy, medical and industrial sectors, has welcomed High Speed Two’s (HS2) CEO, Mark Thurston, to view its new purpose-built facility which was designed to manufacture safety doors for HS2 tunnels.
The £36.5m, 10-year contract awarded to Booth in September 2020 has enabled the Group to expand its facility in Bolton and increase its workforce, including offering new apprenticeships.
On Tuesday, Mark Thurston visited the company’s new purpose-built facility, which has been built to manufacture safety doors for HS2 tunnels, to meet the staff working on the project.
Commenting at the time, Thurston highlighted that, “There are businesses across the UK with the expertise and ability to help us build HS2 and Booth Industries is just one of over 2,000 that are already helping us do that. It is great to see the benefit the project is bringing to an SME in Bolton, as well as the onward economic impact through the local supply chain.”
The safety doors that will be manufactured by Booth’s purpose-built facility are expected to play a crucial role in the operation of the railway, ‘sealing off the cross passageways between the separate north and southbound tunnels and giving access in the event of an emergency.’
The Company explained to investors since HS2’s new trains will be capable of travelling ‘at speeds of up to 250mph’ passing within metres of the doors, the doors of the trains will not only need to provide fire integrity and insulation for up to two hours ‘but will also have to withstand a wide-range of challenging day-to-day environmental and fatigue pressures.’
Mike Jenkinson, managing director of Booth: “We were proud to welcome Mark and his team to Bolton and show them round our new facility, which provides valuable additional capacity to facilitate the delivery of several key public sector contracts, including our work for HS2.”
Addressing shareholders, Jenkinson noted that the skills required to deliver this project are “highly specialised”. He outlined that the process will include modelling the effect of a 300mph wind load created by trains as they pass the doors at high speed, destructive testing for fatigue and fire-testing in furnaces reaching temperatures of around 1000 degrees Celsius.
In practice, this means “pairing decades of knowledge and unique intellectual property with new innovative techniques and designs,” he stated. He added that, “Securing the contract has also enabled us to create new jobs, including apprenticeships and graduate positions, and many more will come once we move into the manufacturing and installation phases.”
Commenting, Austen Adams, Managing Director of Avingtrans’ Process Solutions and Rotating Equipment division, which is home to Booth, added: “The doors Booth are delivering for HS2 will set a new benchmark for the industry, being capable of withstanding constant 14Kpa pressure cycles, along with 2hr Integrity and 2hr Insulation against fire – a world first. We are delighted to be part of this key infrastructure project and looking forward to delivering a programme of great British engineering and manufacturing we can all be proud of.”
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