Sheffield Forgemasters pushes on with machining plant

Pre-application documents have been lodged by the engineering specialist for its landmark 322,800 sq ft facility on brownfield land at Meadowhall.

Located on a 16-acre plot at Weedon Street, the new facility will form one of the world’s most advanced large machining facilities, to support the Ministry of Defence-owned company’s manufacture for the UK defence programme.

JLL advises Forgemasters on planning, and also acted on the land acquisition, completed in May.

Turner & Townsend is working with the group on its recapitalisation programme, while Vinci is the contractor for the 150,000 sq ft open-die forging plant, a £138m project.

With work on the Weedon Street site planned to start in Q4 2024, the building will contain 17 new machines, including some of the largest and most advanced five-axis vertical turning lathes ever produced.

Gareth Barker, chief operating officer at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “The pre-planning application covers an ambitious new project, to create a facility which will deliver some of the world’s most advanced, large-scale machining capabilities.

“Creating this new facility on derelict ground, which was once part of Sheffield’s engineering past, is an amazing investment for the city and for the wider UK, which will create highly-skilled engineering jobs for decades to come.

“The building is set to become an iconic landmark and the sheer scale of the endeavour is actually larger than construction of the UK’s largest open-die forging-line, which is underway on our adjacent Brightside Lane site.”

Plans for the new machining facility detail a main building standing 32 metres tall, located close to the River Don and designed to complement the historic look of the company’s existing buildings.

Adjoining the main construction is a second, proposed 37,660 sq ft building, with a test-house facility and a dedicated training area.

Barker added: “The scope of what we are creating in the centre of Britain’s industrial heartland is truly monumental and will not only de-risk supply for the UK and trilateral AUKUS defence programmes, it will provide some of the most technologically advanced and rewarding working facilities for our employees.”

The machining facility is set to be operational by the end of 2028.

All of the new machines are bespoke to Sheffield Forgemasters’ requirements, and are already being designed and built by machine tools specialist, WaldrichSiegen.

Both the company’s new forging line and proposed machine shop will service defence and also commercial work in sectors such as civil nuclear power.