NG Bailey wins £4.3m deal for world-leading research factory

NG Bailey, the engineering, IT and facilities services specialist, will deliver all the mechanical and electrical design and installation work for the University of Sheffield’s £43m Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) Factory 2050. Working alongside international support services and construction group Interserve, which is the project’s main contractor, NG Bailey, based in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, will help to create a world-class centre of engineering excellence built to BREEAM environmental standards.

NG Bailey’s work will include the installation of a large ground-source heat pump package, which eliminates the need for a boiler or chiller plant to maintain temperatures. It is the first facility created on the site of the former Sheffield airport. Work will begin on the site in early 2015, and be completed by October next year.

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 AMRC Factory 2050 will cover an area of around 4,500 sq metres, and will be largely built from glass. The creation of the new facility is being supported by a £10m grant from the Research Partnership Investment Fund, managed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). Manufacturers including Boeing, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Spirit AeroSystems are also 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.”