Eco Welfare

Typically, mobile welfare facilities on site are powered by diesel generators and generate carbon emissions when in use. The mobile eco welfare cabin used on one of the projects at Ferrovial Agroman’s Heathrow site uses a hybrid diesel and solar system resulting in much lower carbon emissions.

Roughly, 88% of the time the welfare cabin is in use, it runs off the solar power obtained from solar panels on the roof. In addition to this, the X-Eco 10 contains a tower light with four LEDs powered by electricity which run for up to nine hours. This eco welfare is towable and hydraulically lowers into the ground with a retractable draw bar, resulting in no trip hazards.

It provides the following benefits over typical welfare cabins:

• Specification: 10 person welfare which contains a canteen, office, toilet and drying room. Water tank capacity of 240 litres and waste tank capacity of 340 litres.
• Low CO2 emissions: hybrid welfare reduces the use of diesel which generates CO2 emissions. The welfare produces 3kg CO2 per day. Over the 105 days the eco welfare is on site, it will produce 315 tCO2e, compared to 3,896 tCO2e generated by normal welfare facilities, saving 3,554 tCO2e.
• Low fuel consumption: only 12% of the time the welfare is being used it runs off the 70 litre diesel tank powering the generator.
• Low noise emissions: it runs off a silent 6Kva generator which only runs when required. This is ideal for sensitive sites such as night working.
• Fuel savings: it delivers average fuel savings of £50 a week versus typical welfare facilities.
• Overall cost savings: hiring the eco welfare cabin versus hiring a typical welfare cabin along with a separate tower light has resulted in a cost saving of approximately £1,833 over the 105 day period.