Flexiscreen protects sensitive subsea cable manufacturing at JDR's £130m Blyth facility

Construction works alongside dust-sensitive manufacturing

In 2026, JDR opened an innovative new subsea cable manufacturing facility in Blyth, Northumberland. Construction of the £130 million facility began in 2022, with the aim of becoming the UK’s only site capable of producing high-voltage subsea cables from start to finish for the offshore wind industry. As they prepared to begin the 2nd stage of investment in the expansion, parts of the facility needed to continue critical manufacturing operations while other areas of the site were prepared for the Stage 2 machine installations.

To create the additional structural capacity the plant required, engineers needed to lay a new, larger concrete slab capable of supporting loads of more than 1,000 tonnes. The work involved around 12 weeks of intensive slab and piling activity directly adjacent to a live, dust-sensitive manufacturing process. The main contractor, Meldrum Construction Services, needed to seal off the construction zone from the operational area, allowing both to run in parallel without compromising safety or production quality.

Having worked with Westgate Global before, Meldrum Construction Services was confident the team could deliver a temporary screening solution that met the project’s demands. After an in-depth site visit and survey, the team recommended a two-sided Flexiscreen® dust containment enclosure that was used to form a four-sided protected construction zone using two existing building walls.

A scaffold-and-cladding enclosure was considered as an alternative, but would have occupied around one metre of floor footprint; Flexiscreen offered a much slimmer solution at approximately 50mm, helping preserve valuable working space. Beyond its reduced footprint, it delivered the required seal, adaptable access, and a faster, simpler installation.

Flexiscreen delivers a dust-tight seal without halting production

Dust-proofing was the most critical part of the brief. Even microscopic dust or grit can affect some subsea cable manufacturing processes, particularly insulation or jacketing extrusion operations. Flexiscreen with a zip-panel connection method was installed in an L-shape, with two 45m-long screen sections hung from the ceiling to create an over 99% air- and dust-tight seal. This seal allowed the area to operate at near-cleanroom standards and created a protective barrier from the slab construction area, where piling and slab works generated airborne dust that could otherwise migrate to more sensitive cable production lines at the other side of the facility building. This could compromise the long-term reliability of the finished subsea cable.

Although the enclosure was internal, the very spacious, long building had large doors at either end, including one close to the enclosure, so the engineering team at Westgate Global factored wind-load performance into the specification. The system was fixed tightly to the floor and walls using the standard batten detail, with zipped joints that could be opened and securely closed again when machinery access was needed.

Noise reduction was a secondary concern. Before the screen was installed, JDR required mandatory hearing protection in the area because of noise levels. With comparable recent projects achieving up to 16dB reduction, Flexiscreen offered the potential for meaningful sound reduction and a clear boundary between the construction zone and workforce.

“Using Flexiscreen, we were able to give Meldrum and JDR a system that delivered on every front without asking them to compromise on site space. We installed it in just ten days, creating a dust-tight seal that let JDR’s cable production line keep running to near-cleanroom conditions while also cutting a significant amount of noise for people working on site. Getting that combination of speed, space-saving, dust control, and noise reduction from a single system is exactly what these live-environment projects need.” Mark Chadwick, Technical Sales Operative, Westgate Global.

The screen remained in place for the full 12-week construction programme, with no damage to the structure or floors, minimising disruption to both production and construction schedules.

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