Galvanised steel tanks in Coventry

Who wants open storage in a city

This is a niche system here, and we would rather say so. The demand around Coventry comes mainly from engineering and manufacturing sites on the industrial parks at Ansty, Whitley and Baginton, from haulage and plant yards that wash vehicles down, and from large roofs whose owners want to collect and reuse rainwater. Playing fields and sports clubs on the city's edge sometimes want a store for irrigation.

What these sites share is a need for a lot of water above ground, quickly, without digging a hole for it. On the city's clay, a buried store of the same size would also need a lined excavation, a crane-free install and months of groundworks, which is rarely what a working factory wants.

Ring by ring on a prepared base

Someone else pours the slab, designed to carry the tank when brim-full of water. We arrive to set out the first ring on it and check it with a level, as any dip in the concrete shows up in the shell above.

The galvanised sheets then go up course by course, bolted to each other, to the specified height. A liner cut for that particular tank is then hung on the inside to hold the water, so the bolted joints in the shell never have to be watertight themselves.

Fittings and commissioning

Connections for filling, drawing off and overflow are cut and sealed through the liner, along with a gauge if one is specified. We then fill the tank in stages, checking the liner, the fittings and the structure under rising load, before it goes into service.

Water quality is worth thinking about early. Harvested roof water and recycled process water may need filtering before or after the tank, and that equipment belongs to whoever designs the system. We fit the connections it needs at the heights the drawing gives, so pumps and filters can be added later without cutting into the liner.

• Wash-down water for vehicle and plant yards
• Process and recycled water for manufacturing sites
• Rainwater harvesting from large roofs
• Irrigation storage for sports grounds

Working on a live site

Most Coventry steel tanks go in beside a business that keeps running. Bolted panels arrive flat and are handled in manageable pieces, so we can work in a corner of a yard without closing it, and the build is measured in days rather than weeks. If you think the tank may need to move or grow later, tell us early: bolted construction can allow for both when it is specified that way.