Set in the heart of the Irish Sea the Isle of Man is a picturesque and independent semi-rural community. Home to 70,000 people the island is 33 miles in length and 14 miles wide. mpg carried out M & E Quantity Surveying services during the construction of the facility which is an innovative design project to produce energy from waste collected around the Isle of Man which has won a prestigious award for design at this year's Awards for Excellence. Reclaiming a disused landfill site, the new facility had to be able to process all of the island's waste, including clinical, animal and oil waste, in addition to the islands 60,000 tonnes of municipal and commercial waste. It also had to be able to continue to take waste no matter what, as there would be no alternative means of disposal. When the plant is unavailable, municipal waste is stored in a 16-day bunker, if required, waste can then be compacted, encapsulated and stored on site, prior to incineration at a later date. Cold storage was also required for 300 bins of clinical and animal waste.

It was generally agreed that a building of this magnitude could not be disguised within the Island's semi-rural environment. In an inspired move, the local architects decided to make the building a landmark, not trying to hide its presence but celebrating it with innovative design. This is how the stack, in keeping with the Island's heritage, came to resemble a 70-metre Viking-style sail. A striking feature, the sail-shaped stack reduces the perceived scale of the building. The curve of the main structure takes its line from the surrounding hills. The result, whilst not hidden in the surrounding landscape, is very much in concert with it.