Building services provider, Shepherd Engineering Services (SES), has won two high-profile contracts as part of a major infrastructure investment into the North-East of England.
The double contract win, worth a combined £13m, will see SES provide full mechanical and electrical (M&E) services as part of the landmark £200m master plan to transform Newcastle’s historic city-centre Stephenson Quarter. SES will work in partnership with Miller Construction to support the creation of a vibrant living, working and cultural mixed-use development.
The company has also secured the contract to provide all the M&E services on the new Consett Academy and Leisure Centre in County Durham which forms part of a £40m investment into the town. The academy project, led by primary contractor Carillion, will bring unrivalled educational facilities to a single campus setting.
The two prestigious projects have already seen SES invest heavily in local recruitment, including employing both time-served and experienced local engineers, as well as appointing four apprentices from across the North East.
The ten-acre Stephenson Quarter site, adjacent to Newcastle Central Station, will feature a new 250-bed Crowne Plaza Hotel, 3000sqm office block, restaurants, an art gallery and a car park. SES’s £6.5m contract will see the company implement a number of pioneering and advanced solutions to deliver the project.
SES’s integrated Building Information Modelling (BIM) team and prefabrication facility SES PRISM are set to deliver a series of innovative off-site solutions which will significantly reduce costs and labour hours spent on-site as well as delivering a safer on-site working environment. SES PRISM will be used to provide 3D service modules on the floors, main riser and roof top plant room for the hotel.
Steve Joyce, SES’ North East Regional Director, commented: “The co-ordination of the M&E services, such as the installation of tight bedroom risers, is extremely complex so we’re involving our industry leading BIM experts on the hotel to overcome these problems and the associated challenges linked to working within a confined and densely populated city-centre space.
“Having an experienced BIM expert within the team helped us to foresee any potential challenges we would need to contend with and our approach has been tailored accordingly.”
The Consett Academy project, part of a £40m scheme due for completion in August 2015, is set to showcase pioneering contemporary learning areas and include a range of digital technologies, bespoke science laboratories/studios and technical areas in addition to a cutting edge design and research area to enhance the curriculum experience for students.
This latest education sector project comes off the back of two other academy projects for SES in the North East. The company recently completed M&E engineering works for North Shore Health Academy and North Durham Academy.
Joyce added: “The selection of SES onto two of the North East’s most high-profile engineering projects is testament to the work of our team of specialists who are able to deliver ground-breaking technical solutions for clients.
“More importantly, this has also allowed us to reinvest into the region, bringing local employees back to the North East while increasing the number of apprenticeships we are able to offer to local young people.”
Michael Rutherford, Project Manager at Carillion Construction Services, comments: “On such complex projects, it is absolutely critical that we work with solutions-driven partners who have the expertise and experience to deliver on-time and on-budget. The holistic approach offered by SES, combined with its pioneering use of BIM, made SES the natural choice, and because they understand our needs entirely, they are able to offer an enviably seamless and inclusive working partnership.”
These wins come just ten months after SES was awarded the sought after M&E contract on the landmark state-of-the-art Hitachi rail vehicle manufacturing facility build project at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.
The £82m Hitachi scheme, which represents the biggest investment into the area for more than 20 years, is set to have a momentous effect on the prosperity of the region.