Sewell completes BAE's £40m Enterprise Zone

Sewell has recently completed a £40m complex consolidation of the BAE Systems Brough site to support their business restructure.

To attract new investors to the Brough site, a large footprint of the current estate has been developed into an Enterprise Zone. The project saw the conversion of various offices and factories to standardise the environments, ready for bespoke fit out upon occupancy.

The complex reconfiguration included 121 facilities outside of the BAE retained area being safely decommissioned as part of the site consolidation. Completion of the infrastructure improvement resulted in 3000m of drainage works, effectively diverting foul and service water from the Brough site. Suitable open plan office spaces have now been created in the retained BAE site, appropriately dividing the different departments.

Steve Gibson, Sewell Construction Managing Director said:

“The delivery was heavily reliant on communication and collaboration. We held daily briefings to discuss challenges and the best solutions across all site operations.”

“Over a dozen construction projects were running in parallel, so we deployed a highly experienced team to Brough, with 14 managers at the schemes peak, along with a full time Health and Safety Manager. In total the team was managing 350 operatives working on the various programmes.”

Russ Pie, Senior Facilities Manager, BAE Systems said:

“The exemplary health and safety track record speaks for itself. Together we delivered over £40m worth of work as part of the site reconsolidation, with zero reportable accidents.”

Andy Woodward, Head of Engineering Management and Governance, BAE Systems said:

“The disruption has been absolutely minimal and that’s a credit to the team. Potentially business continuity could have been a major issue but the whole process has been managed really well.”

“Sewell’s ability to innovate and ability to problem solve has been impressive, but the expectation management is where the team excels. If there’s something they can do, they make their best endeavours to do it. If they can’t they’ll be honest.”

BAE Systems has manufactured and tested some of the most advanced combat aircraft in the world for decades. As BAE’s strategic estates partner for the last 15 years, Sewell has worked as part of the Brough site team project managing a wide variety of facilities management and construction projects.

Ranging from a lick of paint, to major site reconfigurations, Sewell has worked alongside BAE’s estates professionals to ensure the highly technical, high security site has remained suited to the direction of the defence product manufacturer.