Bierrum is a British civil engineering and construction company, that has built all of Britain's concrete

cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream, to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove heat and cool the ...

s at the country's power stations since 1965.

History

Bierrum was founded by Hans Bierrum (or Hans Bjerrum), a Danish civil engineer that was born in

Hellerup Hellerup () is a very affluent district of Gentofte Municipality in the suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. The most urban part of the district is centred on Strandvejen and is bordered by Østerbro to the south and the Øresund to the east. It compr ...

and had competed in the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

in Belgium. Upon its establishment on 26 September 1927, the company was based at Victoria Street in London. Its first contract was at the former

Shoreham Power Station Shoreham Power Station is a 420MWe combined cycle gas-fired power station in Southwick, West Sussex. It was built on the site of the Shoreham B Power Station. History Gloucester Road Power Station Brighton was one of the first towns in the UK t ...

; the first cooling tower was built in 1931. Bierrum became a

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

in 1938, and relocated to Harrow, then Sudbury Hill. Bierrum and Partners Ltd (00339806) was founded on 30 April 1938. Hans Bjerrum died in 1979. Five years earlier, Hans' son, Roger, had been appointed as chairman of Bierrum. During 1991, the company acquired rival firm Pendrich out of

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

, rescuing 30 jobs in the process. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Bierrum introduced numerous means of improving safety for working at heights, including the Spider platform for the demolition of tall chimneys. In September 2003, the company ran out of money, its fiscal circumstances having been troubled by a downturn in the power sector,

legal action In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the part ...

, and difficulties related to a project in Turkey. One year later, it was reformed as Bierrum International, through employees Gary Eastman and Bob Sutton. It became part of Beroa Technology Group GmbH (BTG) of

Ratingen-Lintorf Lintorf is a village at the transition of the Berg region into the lower Rhine plain in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 1975 it has been a quarter of the city of Ratingen. History, geography & transport Lintorf was suburbanised in 1975. Rat ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

, Germany. Presently, the company is named ''Dominion Bierrum'' and has been owned by Global Dominion Access of

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

since 2014, which was owned by CIE Automotive.

Structure

From January 1957, the company was headquartered at 167 Imperial Drive in

Rayners Lane Rayners Lane is a suburban district in the London Borough of Harrow that forms the western part of Harrow, London, Harrow in northwest London. Located between Pinner and West Harrow, it takes its name from a road in the area, also called Rayners ...

, an office building which it built for its own use. The company depot was at

Smallford Smallford is a village in the City and District of St Albans, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It is sandwiched between Hatfield and St Albans. It was served by Smallford railway station on the Hatfield and St Albans Railway, now the Alban Way ...

in Hertfordshire. In 1981, Bierrum was based at Barwythe Hall at

Studham Studham is a village and civil parish in the county of Bedfordshire. It has a population of 1,182. The parish bounds to the south of the Buckinghamshire border, and to the east is the Hertfordshire border. The village lies in the wooded south ...

near Dunstable. It is headquartered in

Central Bedfordshire Central Bedfordshire is a Districts of England, local government district in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It is administered by Central Bedfordshire Council, a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority. It was created ...

, around one mile east of the M1, close to the

Greensand Ridge Walk The Greensand Ridge Walk is a long-distance walk of that traverses the county of Bedfordshire in England, with brief sections in the neighbouring counties of Cambridgeshire and Buckinghamshire. Its southern endpoint is at Leighton Buzzard and t ...

Projects

Bierrum has designed and built cooling towers (''køletårn'' in Danish) and chimneys nationally and internationally. The firm demolishes

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

s incrementally using its ''Bierrum Rig''. Bierrum also built cement works, such as

Ketton Cement Works Ketton Cement Works is a large cement plant and quarry based in the village of Ketton in the county of Rutland in the United Kingdom. Now owned by HeidelbergCement, the plant produces around one tenth of the UK's Portland Cement needs. Ketton wor ...

in 1961, water towers, such as at

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Norfolk district of the county of Norfolk, England. The town is located south of Cromer and Norwich is south. Demography The civil parish has an area of ...

in 1954, and oil refinery chimneys. * In 1972, the firm built the 850 ft chimney of

Grain Power Station Grain Power Station is a operational CCGT power station in Kent, England, owned by Uniper (formerly E.ON UK). It was also the name of an oil-fired, now demolished, 1,320MW power station in operation from 1979 to 2012. Oil-fired power statio ...

, the tallest freestanding structure in

South East England South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England that are in the ITL 1 statistical regions of England, top level category for Statistics, statistical purposes. It consists of the nine counties of england, ...

, completed in March 1975, requiring 38,100 tonnes of reinforcing steel and concrete. *

Spinnaker Tower The Spinnaker Tower is a landmark observation tower in Portsmouth, England. It is the centrepiece of the redevelopment of Portsmouth Harbour, which was supported by a National Lottery grant. The tower's design was chosen by Portsmouth reside ...

in Portsmouth, built by

slip forming Slip forming, continuous poured, continuously formed, or slipform construction is a construction method in which concrete is placed into a form that may be in continuous motion horizontally, or incrementally raised vertically. In horizontal c ...

and

climbing formwork Climbing formwork, also known as jumpform, is a special type formwork for vertical concrete structures that rises with the building process. While relatively complicated and costly, it can be an effective solution for buildings that are either ver ...

(jumpform); the company ran out of money during construction in September 2003. * In 2016, it removed and rebuilt the iconic four chimneys of

Battersea Power Station Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames in Nine Elms, Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It was built by the London Power Company (LPC) to the design of ...

, in conjunction with contractor Skanska, and consultant engineer

Buro Happold Buro Happold Limited (previously ''BuroHappold Engineering'') is a British professional services firm that provides engineering consultancy, design, planning, project management, and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure, and the env ...

Incidents

* On the afternoon of Saturday 16 November 1958, 34 year old Edward Charles Burgess, of Goldenhill Rd in Fenton, fell 60 ft at

Drakelow Power Station Drakelow Power Station refers to a series of three now decommissioned and demolished Fossil-fuel power station, coal-fired power stations located south of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England ...

, and died on the morning of Sunday 17 November at Burton General Hospital * When building the Associated Portland Cement works at

Westbury, Wiltshire Westbury is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. The town lies below the northwestern edge of Salisbury Plain, about south of Trowbridge and a similar distance north of Warminster. Westbury w ...

in 1962, 22 year old steel erector, Winston Toms, fell 85 ft to his death * In April 1968, 55 year old Roman Mitchell, of Windsmoor St in Stoke, fell 40 ft to his death on the Rugeley B Power Station cooling tower number 8''Staffordshire Sentinel'' Friday 3 May 1968, page 1

References

External links