Sunderland architect appointed to lead £26m Teesside industrial development project

A Sunderland based architectural practice has shown its mettle after being named as lead architects and engineers of a major £26m industrial development on Teesside.

Building Design Northern (BDN) has been appointed to bring to life British Steel’s new processing facilities at Skinningrove, marking 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, with the firm having been appointed across multiple disciplines to carry out all of the design work on the development.

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 on the new facilities is expected to start late 2022 with commissioning expected to start in August 2023.

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, creating 14 jobs with a further 10 to be created over the next 12 months as the company continues to expand.

Richard 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.”

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