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To support this phase, a rigorous safety assessment programme is currently underway at the Global Centre of Excellence in St Helens, with safety in this industrial environment being reassessed from the foundations up. Every system and part of the process is being studied during an initiative that is expected to also benefit glassmaking members when deploying new technologies across their own facilities.

“Functional safety is being built as one single system across our one-of-a-kind facility, including 15 separate Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) studies. We are very eager to share the details with our members and support a safe working environment,” says Aston Fuller, Glass Futures’ General Manager.

“Providing a safe plant and focusing on members’ priorities is critical, and we are planning the most successful start-up schedule possible to deliver maximum value to the membership. To this end we currently believe the best window to fire-up is spring 2025, providing an extended opportunity for members to work with us on the pipeline of activities for next year and beyond, and to learn and share collaboratively as per our vision,” continues Aston. 

“The majority of kit and equipment is already installed, so cold commissioning of the plant will commence during Q1 along with training and writing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). We are putting the safety of people and plant as our highest priority and this means we aren’t pushing the start button as soon as possible, but rather at the right time.”

In the meantime, it’s important to note that 24/7 activity in the plant alongside extensive research projects and external trials with industrial partners are already leading the way to groundbreaking developments in fields such as biofuels, hydrogen, carbon capture, alternative raw materials and technologies around supporting and enabling circularity. 

Dr Ludovic Valette, Glass Futures board member and Vice President of Technology and Engineering at O-I Glass comments “Ahead of the pilot furnace starting-up in the coming months, tremendous work is going on behind the scenes at the Global Centre of Excellence in our continuous efforts to achieve the very highest level of safety at this unique facility. The board, members and partners support this strategy because a focus on safety will provide a sustainable platform for Glass Futures’ trials and collaborative work in decarbonising the glass industry.” 

Having started with a blank page five years ago and taken ownership of the site under two years ago, Glass Futures’ H&S commitment has been driven by exceptionally high standards set by the operations team from day one. As a result, Glass Futures was shortlisted in the ‘Health and Safety Action’ category at the Glass Focus Awards last month, highlighting an H&S culture that boasts over 600 days of ‘no lost time’ accidents with approximately 800 safety observations carried out and over 1000 individual contractors inducted onto site during this period.

“Glass Futures will continue to follow a sustainable operating model; our board has rightly set our appetite for risk as low as possible. This will keep our people and plant safe and the investment into a best-in-class safety study is deemed imperative to achieving our longer term goals. The furnace will be operated according to the needs of our members, who are strongly encouraged to engage with us to discuss all opportunities. A safe business model alongside safety in our plant will ensure we deliver them value,” concludes Justin Kelly, Glass Futures’ CEO.