CONSTRUCTION of Glasgow’s massive recycling and waste-to-energy plant at Polmadie could be back on track shortly after it was revealed that engineering giants Doosan Babcock have been called in to replace the contractors who were removed from the £150 million building project in November.

Recycling and waste business Viridor has the overall 25-year £260m contract to build and operate the Glasgow Recycling and Renewable Energy Centre (GREEC) and it was they who kicked Interserve off the site after months of delays and a cost overrun which Interserve revealed was around £70m.

Viridor’s parent company, the Pennon Group, announced yesterday that Doosan Babcock was on the Polmadie site preparing an “assessment and project plan”.

The news comes just weeks after Doosan Babcock announced the closure of its manufacturing plant at Renfrew with the loss of 270 jobs. Trade unionists are hopeful that some or all of the Renfrew operation can be saved and are in discussions with the company, the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. However, they accept that – even if Doosan Babcock carry out all the remaining GREEC construction work – there is little chance of any of the redundant Renfrew workers being redeployed there.

“The project at GREEC is nearing completion,” said a Unite spokesman. “It is no replacement for the closure of Renfrew, where we are facing the loss of manufacturing jobs which are vital for the economy of the west of Scotland.”

Interserve was supposed to complete its £150m contract for Viridor in March last year, after a three-year building programme, but subsequently said it would not be able to meet a revised completion date of March this year.

In November, Viridor said that it was terminating the contract of Interserve, which is still facing legal action from Unite members over the end of that contract. At the time, Viridor said Interserve had “repeatedly failed to meet contracted delivery milestones”, which was not helped by a sub-contractor going into administration and a two-day strike in April.

When completed, GREEC will be able to handle between 175,000 and 200,000 tonnes of waste annually and is designed to prevent around 90 per cent of waste going to landfill. The energy-to-waste power plant has an electrical capacity of 15MW.

In a trading statement issued yesterday, Viridor’s parent company Pennon said: “As announced at the half year, GREEC is being completed by an experienced team assembled by Viridor, which will work with a new Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor.

“The Glasgow-based firm Doosan Babcock are currently finalising an assessment and project plan.

“This follows the decision to terminate the EPC contract with Interserve due to repeated delays in the completion of GREEC, for which Viridor has contractual remedies.

“The client, Glasgow City Council, is supportive of the revised plan for completion.”

Despite the Glasgow problems, the Pennon board also said the group will deliver trading performance consistent with its expectations and prior guidance.

Chris Loughlin, Pennon group chief executive, said: “With our sector-leading dividend policy, our growth profile and our strong balance sheet, Pennon is well-placed to continue to deliver for customers, communities and shareholders.”