The refurbishment of existing equipment brought the number of machines in operation up to ten - all of which needed dust extraction to COSHH standards.

The machine shop accommodates 180 NVQ students on courses ranging from site carpentry to bench joinery skills. Materials used include European softwood, plywood, chip-board, blockboard and MDF.

As it is situated just 50 yards from a block of residential flats, both the college and the local authority were keen that noise pollulion from a new dust extraction system should not become a problem.

The company supplied ducting from each of the machines to a 2.6 msq silo filter with a 20hp 30in main fan. The silo is mounted on a steelwork structure at ground level outside the block and waste is removed through a rotary valve from the unit into skips.

To meet the stringent noise requirements, Woodwaste Control arranged site meetings with the local authority and then acoustically lined the top section of the filter unit, fitted break motors to the cleaning fans and in line silencers and placed the main fan in an acoustic housing.

As a result of the investment in the new woodworking machine shop, Southampton City College can now be re-accredited for woodworking machine courses.