Sunderland company Building Design Northern has been enlisted as lead architect and engineer of a major £26m industrial development.
Building Design Northern (BDN Ltd) has been appointed to design British Steel’s new processing facilities at Skinningrove, which mark the company’s largest investment in its special profiles business for more than 30 years.
BDN provided an initial architectural and engineering feasibility study of the site prior to the work going to tender and has now been appointed to carry out all of the design work on the development. British Steel has seen strong growth for its products in recent months, particularly those used in the mining and construction sectors, and the new service centre will see the company bring an extended range of profiles for the forklift industry to market.
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Richard Marsden, managing director of BDN, said: “The continued investment by British Steel into Skinningrove will provide a huge boost to the Tees Valley’s historic steel industry and we are delighted to be working closely with the company to help bring this exciting project to life.
“As a practice with offices in the North East and the North West, we know just how important developments such as this will play in helping ‘level up’ the North as we bounce back from the pandemic and we’re incredibly proud to be involved, and building on a strong track record of designing and engineering industrial buildings.”
Work is expected to start late 2022 with commissioning expected to start in August 2023. The large scale of the scheme will involve a wide range of contractors covering an array of skills, from construction to turning and milling expertise, to automated warehousing companies.
BDN has been supporting national and international clients for 35 years and last year moved into a new head office on the outskirts of Sunderland city centre, moving from Salvus House in Durham after the old Simpson Street School building was renovated and remodelled to become the company’s new headquarters.
The move created 14 jobs and a further 10 will be created over the next 12 months as the company continues to expand.
Mr Marsden added: “I’m enormously proud of the BDN team, who have shown incredible resilience and skill over the past 18 months to ensure the business has continued to grow during the pandemic and we aim to continue increasing our headcount as we re-emerge from the pandemic and help get the UK building again.”
