Buxton Cement Works

The construction of one of Europe’s modern cement plants made extensive use of RMD Kwikform’s formwork and shoring expertise and systems.

The new plant was built in Buxton, Derbyshire and was completed just eight months after work started on site.

RMD Kwikform was chosen as the major supplier of all of the formwork and shoring solutions due to its comprehensive range of products, coupled with our ability to keep pace with the extreme demands of the project. The challenges included the provision of climbing formwork to the kilns, singlesided formwork for the coal store, wall and column formwork for all of the structures and shoring for in-situ soffits.

The project called for the construction of around 30 separate buildings. These range from kiln stacks, administration buildings, sub-stations and a host of ancillary process buildings.

In order to provide the support required for such a demanding project, RMD Kwikform had a full time site supervisor, who was responsible for liaison between the site and RMD Kwikform UK’s head office in Aldridge. According to the company’s Chief Engineer, Ian Fryer, the project was an excellent example of how, when the permanent and temporary works designers work together, complex projects can be completed within very tight construction schedules.

Ultraframe, RMD Kwikform’s single-sided formwork system, was one of many being used at Buxton. It was employed in the construction of single-sided walls up to 6.5m high, where the concrete was cast against an excavation that was up to 14 metres high.

Elsewhere on the site, the walls to kiln stacks were constructed using Rapidclimb, crane-handled climbing formwork system. This incorporates a retractable system for the striking of the forms, and a ‘klik-klak’ bracket arrangement inside the core for ease of access. RMD Kwikform Superslim and Alform beam wallforms, Kwikstage Shoring for in-situ soffit support and Maxima for the construction of walls for a number of the process structures were also utilised on site.