The Lakeside Energy from Waste Facility occupies a lake-side site close to the M25 near Heathrow Airport.  It is jointly operated by the integrated waste management and environmental services company Grundon and the recycling, renewable energy and waste management company Viridor.

The newsteelconstruction.com website explains that, "The Lakeside plant is a state of the art facility which converts household waste into electrical energy.   The design for the building takes the large, sweeping, aeronautical form of the roof as its main starting point and key statement. This unifies the disparate elements below, such as the tipping hall and ramp, offices, boiler hall and flue scrubbers to create a single, identifiable motif for the building.  The external frame is completely independent of all the internal process support structure, making it possible to adapt the internal structure in the future without adversely affecting the shell.  Adopting a steel solution enabled a building of over 40m high to be constructed while maximising the internal space. This was achieved by using a series of long span beams and trusses for the roof and three unrestrained central columns up to 40m in length."

The engineering and project management company, Royal HaskoningDHV, worked with BAM Nuttall and process contractor Takuma to provide civil and structural engineering and architectural services, along with geotechnical and environmental design, for the plant.  Their brief was to, "... optimise the layout of the building and improve logistics and process flow to reduce construction costs where possible.  The main challenges on this project were the groundworks and construction of a 32m high concrete waste bunker, 11m of which was below ground."

In an effort to make the facility as energy efficient as possible Belectric were contracted to install solar panels on the roof of the main building.  " One third of the south-facing curved roof at the back of the plant now accommodates 1000 solar panels, which generate 230,500 Kwh of sustainable energy a year, delivering a total carbon saving of 137,000 tonnes a year."  Their challenge was to install the panels, "... on the steeply curved roof of a tall building, under the take-off path for Heathrow airport, during a particularly gusty autumn."