Pochin’s to build Enterprise Zone warehouse

The Cheshire-based developer and contractor has been awarded a £10.8m contract to develop a 165,000 sq ft warehouse for BAE Systems at its site in Samlesbury, Lancashire.

The facility will be among the first major developments in the Lancashire Enterprise Zone that sits alongside BAE Systems’ advanced manufacturing facility at Samlesbury, where it employs more than 4,000 people.

The project will involve the construction of a new-build distribution warehouse and an office pod, to be operated by Wincanton, BAE Systems’ logistics contractor.

The warehouse forms the first stage of a wider development adjacent to the former airfield, and will involve extensive earthworks to prepare the site.

The project is one of five valued at more than £10m that Pochin’s is currently on site with, including works for TJ Morris in Liverpool and at Trafford Point in Manchester.

AEW was appointed as the architect and sole consultant for the scheme after a competitive pitch process in January 2015, and has worked closely with BAE’s project management team to design and develop the new facility.  AEW subsequently appointed the design team and a suite of consultants to provide all services, including TRP for structural and civil engineering, and Futurserv for mechanical and electrical consultancy.

Jim Nicholson, chief executive of Pochin’s, said: “We’re hugely proud to have secured yet another £10m contract, for one of the world’s largest defence contractors and one of the region’s biggest employers.

“The site at Samlesbury Aerodrome has huge historical importance – it has been central to advances in aeronautical engineering since the 1920s, and this project will cement its future as a centre of innovation in the sector.”