Member Article

NG Bailey flying high with £4.3 million aerospace factory contract

NG BAILEY has been awarded a £4.3m contract to bring to life what is poised to become the world’s most advanced factory for aerospace research.

The UK’s leading engineering, IT and facilities services specialists has been tasked with delivering all mechanical and electrical (M&E) design and installation work for the University of Sheffield’s new £43m Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Factory 2050.

Working alongside international support services and construction group Interserve, the project’s main contractor, NG Bailey will pool the expertise of its Engineering, IT Services and Offsite Manufacture divisions to create a world-class centre of engineering excellence built to BREEAM “Excellent” environmental standards.

Ilkley-headquartered NG Bailey’s work is spearheaded by the installation of a major ground-source heat pump package, which eliminates any need for a boiler or chiller plant.

The NG Bailey team helped to develop the final design for the heat pump after carrying out some research of its own by using thermal modelling to assess and understand the building loads required – information which then shaped the final solution.

This is the first facility to be created on the site of the former Sheffield airport and the AMRC Factory 2050 will drive innovation to meet the future needs of aerospace and other high-value manufacturing industries.

Work will begin onsite early in 2015 and complete by October 2015. The timescale will be accelerated by drawing upon NG Bailey’s Offsite Manufacture division to create pipework modules ahead of their swift and safe installation onsite.

Andy Morley, operations director for NG Bailey’s Engineering division, said: “As a company with strong roots in engineering, we are delighted that our work will support the engineers at this facility in taking forward their own global reputation for manufacturing research into an exciting new era.

“The biggest challenge we faced was meeting the University’s demands for the centre to be both future proof and flexible - the bespoke approach we are taking reflects that.”

The AMRC Factory 2050 will have an area of around 4,500 sqm and will be built largely from glass to showcase the advanced manufacturing technologies being developed within.

The creation of the new facility is supported by a £10 million grant from the Research Partnership Investment Fund, managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).

Leading manufacturers including Boeing, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Spirit AeroSystems are also committed to supporting the project.

Professor Keith Ridgway, executive dean of the University of Sheffield AMRC, said: “This will be the most advanced factory in the world. It will give us a home for the research and demonstration work associated with building the next generation of aircraft and energy technologies.

“The aim is to be able to manufacture any component as a one-off, and instantaneously switch between components. This will be a totally reconfigurable factory, one of the goals of the advanced manufacturing research strategy.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .