BAM breaks £250 million of new buildings in Lancashire in past 20 years

BAM breaks £250 million of new buildings in Lancashire in past 20 years

Hemel Hempstead, 11 October 2019 - Ahead of the opening of the University of Central Lancashire’s new Engineering Innovation Centre (EIC) in Preston next week, its contactor, BAM, has revealed the details of its work in the county of Lancashire.

The contractor, which not only builds, but also develops, designs, engineers and runs facilities for buildings, has delivered 34 schemes. Its first, a set of ‘test houses’ and offices, was for Rover in 1943 at Waterloo Mill, Clitheroe. [See full list in notes, below.]

It also delivered the television relay facility at Winter Hill in Chorley for the then Ministry of Works around 1950. Currently, it is also creating another innovation facility – the Heath Innovation Centre for Lancashire University. Combined the schemes now total over a quarter of a billion pounds in the past 20 years.

BAM’s Regional Director, Ian Fleming, said: ‘Although BAM worldwide is 150 years old this year our history in Lancashire is predominantly modern. 23 of our 34 contracts in the county have been delivered in the past 20 years and one thing stands out most: our strength is in forming strong partnerships. We delivered six schemes for BAE Systems in Samelsbury valued around £120 million, four Asdas, three NHS schemes, and we are onto our eighth scheme for Lancaster University. In any business, people come back to you if they like how you do things, not just what you do. But we know it is a competitive industry too and there is fierce pressure on prices. Next week we see the opening of our second scheme for the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). The emphasis on engineering there also reveals something of importance about history and economics.’

‘Going back in time, we built high streets and manufacturing facilities, while these days we create education buildings and supermarkets. What we build and who we are building for, tells a story of a nation’s economic fortunes. At one point, we were converting buildings into emergency hospital for those injured during the Second World War. The industry has transformed itself in my lifetime. UCLan’s new Engineering Innovation Centre which we had the pleasure to create illustrates how contractors have become evermore the fulcrum of expertise in the built environment.’

‘Once we may have been agents of delivery, but now, we have become the agents of change by integrating design, engineering, and managing facilities. Our work is integral to how sustainable and safe buildings are. The data we mine from buildings enables them to be used more efficiently. When BAM started, in the nineteenth century, materials moved by horse and cart. The telephone and camera had not been invented. Today, we have a live computer model in an Ipad and virtual reality engineers allowing us to talk around a building that doesn’t even exist yet. We can build a factory inside another factory. It is a different, more exciting place to have a career, welcoming all people of diverse talents and backgrounds. It is however, a source of some pride for us to see the name Rover when it was based at Clitheroe, as our first contract in the county. That may have been in 1943, but it is a link from our shared past to our shared future. No-one can doubt that both construction and car manufacturing have both revolutionised in that time.’

BAM opened its first dedicated office in the North West in 1976, and is now based in Salford. The region employs around 150 people directly and provides work for around a further 1000 per year through its supply chain. The North West region turns over approximately £100 million every year, while the parent, BAM Construct UK, turns over around one billion. Both are part of the international Royal BAM Group, which employs around 20,000 people and turns over around six billion Euros. Its work across the North West includes Manchester City’s training academy and the Co-operative Group Headquarters.

Ian Fleming concluded: ‘Innovation is a major theme for us in the immediate future, as is attracting a more diverse workforce, and continuing to be the industry’s most collaborative and versatile contractor, able to integrate all the disciplines that create our build environment. You cannot ask for better challenges.’

BAM in Lancashire





































1943

Clitheroe, Waterloo Mill

Rover

Offices and Test Houses at £22,000

1949

Winter Hill, Chorley

Ministry of Works

TV Relay station

1964

Southport

 

Bowling Centre, flats and shops

1976

BAM opens its permanent office in the North West

1977

Colne

Calder Components

Factory and Offices

1987

Chorley

NHS

NHS Regional Distribution centres to hospitals

 

Preston

Wymott Prison

Roofing works

1989

Burnley

NHS

Burnley Hospital X-ray Unit

 

Preston

NHS

Further re-roofing at Wymott Prison to further four buildings

1994

Preston

BHS

Refurbishment

1994

Rawtenstall

 

LCC

[St Mary’s CE] Primary

1999

Blackpool

NHS

Victoria Hospital Nucleus development

2000

Accrington

College

Accrington & Rossendale College two new workshops

2002

 

Lancaster University

Environment Centre

2003

 

Lancaster University

Infolab

2003

Chorley

ASDA

Store

2004

Skelmersdale

ASDA

Store

2005

Preston

ASDA

Store

 

Blackpool

ASDA

Store

 

 

Lancaster University

Management School

2006

 

Lancaster University

Environment Centre (next phase)

2007-2009

Samelsbury

BAE Systems

Building 611

 

Samelsbury

BAE Systems

Building 430

 

Samelsbury

BAE Systems

Building 610

 

Samelsbury

BAE Systems

Road system for BAE

 

Samelsbury

BAE Systems

Welfare Building

 

Samelsbury

BAE Systems

Building 608

2009

 

UClan

Leisure centre

2010

Ormskirk

College

Skelmserdale & Ormskirk College

2012-13

 

Lancaster Uni

Chemistry room refubs

 

 

 

NMR suite

 

 

 

Other refurbs

2016

Preston

UClan

EIC Engineering Innovation Centre

2017

Lancaster

Lancaster Uni

Health Innovation Centre