Projects
Doosan Babcock, INEOS Grangemouth
Two blast-resistant modular buildings engineered around people working in a live petrochemical environment.
Solution: Engineered Solutions
Sector: Industrial & Process | Oil & Gas
Application: Custodial Facilities

Project Overview
Client:
Doosan Babcock
Location:
INEOS Grangemouth, Scotland
Sector:
Industrial & Process
Solution:
Engineered Solutions
Application:
Blast-Resistant Buildings
Scope:
Two blast-resistant modular buildings providing office, canteen, locker, kitchen and meeting accommodation Babcock Grangemouth Blast.
Objective
Blast-resistant modular buildings | Petrochemical | Office & welfare accommodation | Live operational site | Turnkey fit-out
At the INEOS Grangemouth site in Scotland, Doosan Babcock needed new accommodation for its teams working within a live petrochemical environment.
The requirement covered two separate buildings with different operational roles: a two-bay office facility and a larger canteen and locker building. Both needed to provide comfortable, fully functioning accommodation for the workforce while meeting the project's specified blast-resistance requirements. Babcock Grangemouth Blast.
Thurston Group manufactured, delivered and installed both buildings, incorporating services, furniture and fittings as part of the completed facilities.
It is a practical example of Engineered for the Challenge: taking an everyday requirement for offices and welfare space and engineering it around the additional demands of a hazardous industrial setting.


The Challenge
For Doosan Babcock, the requirement was straightforward in use but more demanding in execution with the building being in a demanding COMAH facility.
Its teams needed practical office and welfare accommodation from which they could support their client at the Grangemouth site. But locating occupied buildings within a petrochemical environment meant the solution also needed to respond to defined blast requirements.
Rather than one standard facility, the brief called for two separate buildings serving different functions.
The first was a two-bay office unit. The second was a substantially larger canteen and locker facility. Both needed to create comfortable, usable spaces for people working on site while providing the required level of blast resistance. Babcock Grangemouth Blast.
The work also had to be delivered within a live operational environment and against a tight programme. Babcock Grangemouth Blast.
The challenge was therefore not simply to provide modular accommodation, but to make those everyday spaces work safely and effectively within the realities of the site.
The Solution
Thurston manufactured, delivered and installed two purpose-built blast-resistant modular buildings around Doosan Babcock's operational requirements.
The office building provided a dedicated working base for site teams, while the larger welfare facility incorporated canteen and locker accommodation.
The scope extended beyond the structural buildings themselves. Thurston also provided services, furniture and fittings, creating fully functioning accommodation that included kitchen and meeting space. Babcock Grangemouth Blast.
The completed interiors shown in the original project photography underline that distinction. These were not simply protective shells: the buildings were finished as practical working environments, incorporating furnished offices, meeting space, a large canteen and dedicated changing and locker facilities.
That combination of protective performance and everyday usability sits at the heart of the solution.
The result
The completed buildings gave Doosan Babcock dedicated office and welfare facilities for its workforce at the Grangemouth site.
Each building was configured around a different operational need, but both combined blast-resistant construction with the spaces and amenities required for day-to-day use.
For Thurston, the project demonstrates how specialist engineering can be applied to what might otherwise appear to be a straightforward accommodation requirement.
What this demonstrates
Blast-resistant modular building capability
Two separate occupied buildings were manufactured around project-specific blast-resistance requirements.
Engineering around different uses
Office accommodation and a larger canteen and locker facility were developed as distinct solutions rather than forcing different requirements into a standard format.
Practical workforce environments
The project combined protective construction with fully functioning offices, kitchens, meeting areas, canteen space and changing facilities.
Delivery in a live industrial setting
The buildings were delivered and installed within an operational petrochemical environment..
More than the building shell
Thurston's scope included services, on-site installation, furniture and fittings, helping provide accommodation ready for operational use. Babcock Grangemouth Blast.
Engineered for the challenge
A relatively everyday need for office and welfare accommodation became an engineering challenge because of where the buildings needed to perform — exactly the type of requirement Thurston's Engineered Solutions capability is designed to solve.

Discuss your next project with Thurston
Tell us about your operational needs, site requirements and delivery challenges. Our team will help you develop a modular building solution designed around your project.




