Peri UK’s Hinkley Point C reactor formwork: digital design and load path notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Peri UK has delivered a bespoke formwork system for the Hinkley Point C reactor domes, enabling multi-directional curved concrete pours about 45 m above ground without conventional through-ties due to the inner 6 mm airtight steel shell. The solution combined Vario formwork with 199 custom panels, Rundflex transition panels, SCS Starter Brace with 550 Strongbacks, and reconfigured SB platforms forming 5 m-wide horizontal working decks, all anchored via special 45° adapters to carry fresh concrete and equipment loads. Extensive 2D-to-3D digital modelling and precise anchor coordination around dense rebar grids cut Unit 2 platform installation to under 14 days and reduced on-site redesign.
Technical Brief
- Unit 1 inner dome was completed using the bespoke system in late 2025, proving constructability.
- 199 custom-fabricated Vario panels were produced specifically to match the dome’s complex geometry.
- Rundflex circular wall panels formed the transition from vertical reactor walls up to level 13.
- SB platforms, normally vertical for single-sided walls, were repurposed horizontally as ~5 m-wide decks.
- Each platform had to resist fresh concrete pressure plus heavy plant and live operative loads simultaneously.
- Peri’s workflow moved from 2D drawings to 3D CAD and digital models to resolve clashes and interactions.
- Digital modelling generated detailed kit lists, streamlining procurement and logistics for the Hinkley Point C site.
- Dense reactor-wall reinforcement and embedded items forced anchor locations to be threaded through tight rebar grids.
- On Unit 1, anchor misalignments triggered on-site redesigns, informing stricter anchor setting-out for Unit 2.
Our Take
Peri UK's work on the Hinkley Point C reactor dome formwork sits alongside its later AI-enabled formwork service (launched with DataB on dataform.work in March 2026), suggesting future UK nuclear pours could see much more automated translation from 3D design to CNC fabrication for complex geometries like domes and transition sections.
Operating bespoke formwork about 45 m above ground with 5 m-high pours at Hinkley Point C will be a useful reference case for EDF as it advances other UK nuclear builds such as Sizewell C, where similar high-elevation, heavy-rebar reactor structures are expected under the same regulatory regime.
Within our 829 Infrastructure stories, Hinkley Point C appears repeatedly as a benchmark megaproject, so Peri UK's ability to install a 199-panel platform solution in under 14 days is likely to be scrutinised by other major UK contractors looking to compress critical-path formwork cycles on large civil and energy schemes.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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