A Sunderland headquartered structural and civil engineering firm have supported Leo Group’s multi-million pound storage terminal facility at the Port of Sunderland.

Leo Group, one of the UK’s leading specialists in animal by-products and renewable energy, has completed the construction of the new maritime storage terminal at the Port of Sunderland.

Building Design Northern (BDN), a northern architecture and engineering practice, supported Leo Group during the design and construction of the new storage tanks, providing structural and civil engineering services.

The storage tanks will hold the oil recycled from Leo Group’s Omega Proteins plants across the UK and allows the company to load some of the largest tankers in operation today. This oil, a highly valuable cargo, is shipped to world-renowned energy companies and is used to generate renewable energy as well as being processed into high-tech ‘green’ SAF and HVO fuel.

Working alongside G&B Civils, BDN provided a sensitive response to a complex site, producing a hybrid raft design to support the 18, 22m high silos tanks.

It is one of many developments that BDN have supported within Sunderland, as the firm led the tasteful regeneration of Simpson Street School, and are the current driving force behind the new £2m Sheepfolds Stables leisure development. With offices in both Sunderland and Ulverston, the multi-disciplinary practice offers architecture, structural and civil engineering services to clients across the UK.

Andrew Webb, Director of Civil Engineering at Building Design Northern (BDN) said, “It is great to see the completion of a successful project, marking a significant investment into the Port of Sunderland by Leo Group.

“The in-house collaboration of our structural and civil engineering teams allowed us to react quickly to the obstructions found during the site works, delivering a fast and efficient design response.”

To meet the internationally growing demand for its oil, Leo Group chose the Port of Sunderland for its strategic location on the east coast and access to major transport routes. The company sees this hugely important multi-million pound investment as a crucial building block for the future, as the Sunderland terminal will play a pivotal role in the global export of its oil.

Danny Sawrij, CEO of The Leo Group, said: “We are delighted that our terminal in Sunderland is now operational. It will serve as our main distribution centre for oil and secure our future exports to the EU and other markets around the world, which we expect to increase over time. As one of the UK’s leading animal by-products and renewable energy specialists, it is great that we are able to recycle 100 per cent of all animal by-products at our sites and help reduce CO2 emissions with our products. A decade ago, you would have buried a dead sheep in the ground with the risk of contamination. Now we can convert the sheep into sustainable aviation fuel and electricity. That’s how far we’ve come.”

Matthew Hunt, Director at Port of Sunderland, said: “Leo Group is the latest in a number of pioneering circular economy businesses to have announced a major investment at the Port of Sunderland and we’re absolutely delighted that its state-of-the-art export facility here in our Port is now ready to start shipping operations to overseas markets. The need for countries the world-over to transition to Net Zero societies has led to soaring demand for clean biofuels such as those produced by Leo Group and we are delighted that the port will play a key role in the growth of the business as it continues to expand its global presence.”

To find out more about Leo Group, visit > Leo Group Ltd – Specialists in animal by-products and renewable energy