Galvanised steel tanks in Derbyshire

Storage above ground on hard ground

Across much of upland Derbyshire, bedrock lies close beneath thin soil. An excavated lagoon there is slow and costly to form, and a lined pond may not be wanted on a visible hillside. A steel tank needs only a level, load-bearing pad, which your contractor builds to the tank's requirements.

Down in the south of the county the ground is easier, but the same tank appeals where space is short or the store might need to move one day. A bolted shell can be unbolted, stacked on a lorry and rebuilt on another pad.

Who uses them here

Demand is mostly agricultural and industrial, and it comes from a handful of uses.

• Dairy units holding rainwater off parlour and shed roofs for wash-down
• Quarries and works around Buxton, Wirksworth and the Hope valley storing process or recycled water
• Growers and nurseries on the lowland around Derby and Melbourne needing irrigation volume
• Industrial sites on the A50 and M1 corridors harvesting water off large roofs

Pad, shell, liner, first fill

First we survey the pad for level and mark out the tank's footprint on it, because the shell is only as true as the concrete under it. Then the galvanised sheets go up course upon course, each tier bolted to the one below, until the tank reaches its specified height.

Inside the shell hangs a fitted liner, which holds the water so that the bolts and panel joints never have to. We make the pipe connections, the overflow and a gauge for the water level through the liner, each one sealed. Water then goes in a stage at a time, and we watch every joint and fitting take the load before the owner starts drawing from it.

High and exposed sites

A tank on a ridge above Buxton faces more wind and snow than one in the Trent valley. Those loads belong in the tank's design, set by the manufacturer and your engineer, and we build to it. What we add on site is careful sequencing, so panels are not left part-erected on a gusty afternoon. If the forecast turns, we would rather stand the crew down for a morning than leave a half-built ring exposed overnight.

Quarry sites bring their own rules: inductions, haul roads shared with dump trucks and fixed hours for deliveries. We plan the panel drop around them so the tank goes up without holding up the operation around it.