£138m contract awarded for Forgemasters project

A £138m contract has been awarded to support the construction of a building to house the UK’s largest open-die forging facility at Sheffield Forgemasters.VINCI Building has been appointed as delivery partner for the 150,000 sq ft building at the Brightside Lane site.The company will undertake the project to provide foundations, a 40-metre-high superstructure and building service solutions for the facility, alongside teams of subcontractors and supply chain partners.The new building is part of the MoD-owned company’s recapitalisation programme.Gareth Barker, chief operating officer at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “VINCI Building undertook a competitive bids process to secure the Forge delivery contract and as the winning bidder, will now look to move the programme forward at pace.”Each of these milestones serves to remind the wider UK that we are progressing with a transformation of this business, to create one of the world’s most advanced large-scale engineering facilities, providing decades of jobs security and training for high-technology careers.”John Roberts, managing director at VINCI Building, added: “Signing of this contract brings together three years of tireless work by the team to develop the design and price for Sheffield Forgemasters.”It gives us the opportunity to step up our social value activities to deliver a positive legacy for the people of Sheffield. I look forward to seeing progress in the coming months.”The forging line will service defence and commercial work in sectors such as civil nuclear power, creating a new generation of engineers and designers, trained to work with Industry 4.0 technologies.It will be complemented by a proposed new machining facility, housing some of the world’s largest and most advanced five-axis Vertical Turning Lathes.