Member Article

SES Engineering Services' Custody Suite project success

Leading national engineering specialist, SES Engineering Services, has marked the culmination of its £2.7m mechanical and electrical (M&E) contract on South Yorkshire Police’s flagship and state-of-the-art Sheffield and Rotherham Custody Suite.

Delivered in close collaboration with lead contractor Willmott Dixon and South Yorkshire Police, the project on Shepcote Lane will provide custodial accommodation for up to 50 offenders and incorporates four cell wings and a two-storey office block.

A technically complex project, SES were required to deliver a faultless engineering services solution which would be relied on 24 hours a day in a confined environment in which detainees are kept behind bars.

The scheme, delivered on time and on budget as a result of the collaborative, ‘one team’ ethos of the project partners, is already being held up as a benchmark of sustainable building and tangible community investment for police forces across the UK. The project has, just this week, been named as a finalist in the Integration and Collaborative Working category at this year’s Constructing Excellence Yorkshire and Humber Awards 2016.

Overall, a total of 26 weeks of work experience and 36 weeks of apprenticeships were provided to aspiring workers during the project.

Spurred by each of the project partners’ proud Yorkshire heritage and a shared commitment to enabling and supporting the local workforce, over 75 per cent of the project budget was spent within 40 miles of the project.

Furthermore, in line with the force’s commitment to local offender rehabilitation, a number of electrical and service traineeships were created onsite supporting young offenders to turn their lives around. A unique twist being that they were given an opportunity to help construct a building they will hopefully never see the inside of.

The close relationship between Willmott Dixon and SES even saw apprentices from both companies shared between teams and given the opportunity to develop their skills alongside experts across construction and engineering disciplines.

Robert Holmes, SES Project Manager, commented: “Right from initial tender to project handover, the relationship between the three key project partners was one of complete transparency. While that’s easy to say, the precision and public money efficiency required on this enormously technically complex project could not have been realised without this shared commitment.

“We’re immensely proud to have worked on this standout and ambitious project which is now a flagship UK public sector building.”

Steve Joyce, SES Regional Director North East and Yorkshire, added: “The local supply chain selection and criminal community rehabilitation integrated within the project team are further testament to the fantastic legacy of this scheme.”

Tools such as the innovative Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology also allowed SES and the project team to significantly reduce material costs, time and waste as well as improving efficiency to deliver outstanding sustainability benefits.

An intelligent, inventive and practical space, the custody suite is the first such building in the country to generate up to 50kw through its own photovoltaic (PV) energy creation capabilities on the roof.

Paula Ibberson, Custody Estates Project Manager, South Yorkshire Police, commented: “Given the nature of the building and its wing/cell layout, police custody suites can be difficult to heat and as such rather inefficient.

“This is one of the first suites in the country to truly embrace PV, a fantastic innovation and one which has certainly attracted the attention of forces across the country”.

A specialist in offsite manufacture, SES recently became the first Mechanical, Electrical and Public Health Services contractor (MEP) to achieve BRE Accredited BIM Level 2 Certification, one month ahead of the government’s public sector project compliance deadline.

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