Stainless steelwork package for the UK’s largest membrane bioreactor plant

A&J Fabtech has been awarded a £1,000,000+ contract to manufacture and install the structural steelwork package for what will be the UK’s largest membrane bioreactor (MBR) system at a sewage treatment works on the south coast that is being upgraded to accommodate the population growth in its catchment area.

Fabrication work started in October 2017 with the first phase of installation starting in December. A second phase begins in January and the whole project will be completed early in the new year.



A membrane bioreactor combines a membrane process such as microfiltration or ultrafiltration with a biological wastewater treatment or activated sludge process and is increasingly becoming the preferred solution for both municipal and industrial waste treatment.

MBR systems produce a very clean final effluent which can be discharged to sea or brackish waterways or even used for urban irrigation.

The system is compact in size, so MBRs can be easily retrofitted into the footprint of existing treatment works.

“This is A&J Fabtech’s first ever MBR project,” says Mark Wright, the company’s Managing Director. “Once completed, the plant will be the UK’s biggest MBR system, five or six times the size of anything installed before.”

The contract covers the fabrication and installation of the MBR plant steelwork and some pipework, all in grade 316 stainless steel, and its fast track completion will make the site one of the most advanced sewage treatment works in Europe.