Birch was awarded the design and build contract as part of a new scheme being developed by Hambleton District Council at Leeming Bar to build upon the area’s existing food cluster. As principal contractor they are working closely with the Council to ensure that the 23,400sq ft Food Enterprise Centre will provide exactly the right facilities for these fledgling food companies.
Councillor Tony Hall, Cabinet Member for Prosperity, Hambleton District Council, said: “As a Council we have developed a number of general industrial and office schemes, but this project represents the first time we have ventured into specialist food grade accommodation. We started off with a rough idea of what we wanted when we let the contract on a design and build basis and, thankfully, have been very fortunate in our choice of contractor. William Birch & Sons has worked closely with us, and on our behalf, and has gone to considerable effort to try to ensure that the finished product is the best we can make it in terms of technical specification, quality, fitness for purpose etc whilst also remaining within budget.”
The Food Enterprise Centre will comprise seven food grade starter units and four grow-on units, plus a central management support suite, meeting/training room facilities and a fully fitted food grade test kitchen for hire by tenants and third parties. One of the main challenges of the project was the need to ensure that the units provide a good basic food grade shell whilst maintaining maximum flexibility to ensure that the units can be easily adapted to suit as many different food activities and processes as possible.
Allan Horsley, William Birch’s contract manager, said: “This is not a straightforward project, it requires a specialist skill set, so we did some excellent research and focused design proposals, which helped us win the contract. Since then, we have further developed the specification of the original scheme to more readily meet the precise requirements of the potential end-users and give them the best, most competitive, head start in business.”
Hambleton District Council is leading the project with significant funding support from the regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward, and the European Regional Development Fund.
Councillor Tony Hall concluded: “The team we are working with at William Birch & Sons, inclusive of Gowers Bell Architects, A Thompson Consulting Ltd and H&C Moore, have all made significant contributions to the project and their professionalism and technical input has been first rate. When it’s completed, I am sure the Leeming Bar Food Enterprise Centre will be a development of which we can all be proud.“
The Food Enterprise Centre is due for completion in July 2009, and is being built on land owned by the Council on the new Leeming Bar Business Park, 70% of which has been earmarked for food or food related businesses. It is hoped that it will have a substantial impact in terms of facilitating business growth in the food sector and creating new job opportunities
