A specialist building consultancy has handed over a £5m facility on Tyneside as part of a series of multi-million pound contracts with car parts manufacturer Gestamp Tallent.
left to right: James Hall & Joe Prouse both of Howard Russell, Peter Gallone & John Langdon of Gestamp with Richard Farrey of Silverstone inside the newly completed car manufacturing plant
Newcastle-based Silverstone Building Consultancy — which offers surveying and project management services to the commercial property sector — was commissioned to oversee the 12-month project at the firm’s County Durham headquarters.
Silverstone worked alongside main contractor, Howard Russell Construction, structural and civil engineers, Shed, and mechanical and electrical engineers, Sine Consulting, during the demolition of Plant One at Newton Aycliffe and the construction of a new 45,500 sq ft press hall and parts store to house specialist racking and new state-of-the-art presses.
Gestamp, which employs more than 1,300 people in the North East, has five manufacturing plants at its Newton Aycliffe compound where it designs and manufactures chassis products for car makers such as Nissan, Volvo, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Honda and BMW.
Three years ago, Silverstone project managed the construction of Plant Five at the site; an £8m award winning manufacturing facility providing Gestamp with a 185,000 sq ft extension to its existing production facilities.
“Gestamp is one of our longest standing and most valued clients,” said Silverstone director, Richard Farrey. “We have developed an excellent understanding of their manufacturing systems over the past few years which has enabled us to tailor our services to their specific needs.
“Winning these instructions has given the team at Silverstone a fantastic opportunity to showcase our project management skills on large-scale construction projects.”
His company, which employs eight staff and has attracted both regional and national clients, has now been instructed to project manage the redevelopment of another £1m factory for Gestamp as part of its ongoing investment.
Peter Gallone is plant director at Gestamp Tallent, “As our business and customer base continues to expand we need to ensure assembly lines and production facilities are renewed to increase efficiency and output,” he explained.
“This latest phase of development is part of a long-term investment strategy to renew some of the older facilities on our County Durham site.
“The redevelopment of Plant One has provided us with another state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to mirror Plant Five and, throughout, Silverstone has proven to be a valuable partner on many of our building projects.”
Describing the rebuilding programme as a 30-plus-year investment, Gallone added: “We have presses that have been on site since 1982, so that gives you an idea of how long we want these facilities to carry on producing parts here in Newton Aycliffe.
“When people drive past and they see a 17-metre tall building coming out of the ground, they can see there’s investment here and it’s great for the town and the area.”
