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industrial buildings special report
BUILDING PROJECTS
‘Prior to the existence of this new factory, Britain’s once world-renowned train and locomotive manufacturing industry had been in rapid decline’
An archeological survey was carried out prior to work commencing
Trains – a joint venture between Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing Investments. Prior to the existence of this new factory, Britain’s once
world-renowned train and locomotive manufacturing industry had been in rapid decline. By 2005 there was just one major rolling stock manufacturing base operating in Britain, the Bombardier Transportation plant in Derby. Now there are two again. But make no mistake, Hitachi Rail
Europe’s cavernous new 43,000 sq m building is much more than just a factory. It symbolises the company’s ambitions to win a significant slice of sales in the buoyant multi-billion pound UK and continental European train manufacturing market. Indeed, Hitachi has recently made London the HQ of its global rail business. The firm is also locating its UK design office at Newton
Aycliffe, further symbolising its investment of cash and confi- dence in the expertise, flair and innovation of Britain’s rail industry. The factory will also provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the North East’s long-struggling manufacturing sector, creating 730 new jobs in the factory and employing many of the region’s firms in the construction process. Initially the works will build, assemble and fit-out trains using metal body shells shipped over from Japan but the company has strongly indicated that the body shells could also be made at Newton Aycliffe in the future.
Greenfield site
The factory is situated five miles from Darlington on a 127,000 sq m greenfield site that takes up a third of the 104-acre Merchant Park being created by developer Merchant Place Developments. With a direct link to the UK rail network, the facility at the industrial park also includes a 1km-long test track for newly built rolling stock and sidings outside the building. Designed and developed by British architects Ryder Architecture, working closely with Masayuki Ninomiya, chief
When completed, the vast building will be one of Europe's state-of-the art train building factories
architect for Hitachi Rail Europe, the factory not only has to fulfil practical and sophisticated industrial functions but needed to make a bold statement. Martin Elliott, Ryder’s architectural director, says: “To
deliver an advanced manufacturing base like this there has to be a close liaison during the design process with Hitachi and the developer. Our aim has been to create and deliver a functional, energy-efficient workplace that is intended to be one of Europe’s premium state-of-the-art train production facilities.” Work began in November 2013, with topping out taking
place in October last year and final completion and fitting out due this summer. While building on a greenfield site might be considered to
offer many advantages over a previously developed one, it also brings its own challenges. The site was known to originally be on or part of an Iron Age
settlement and home to some rare amphibians. Elliott explains: “While planning consent was granted in 2012, before any construction work could begin an in-depth archaeological investigation and study of the site was carried out in 2013 over a period of nine months. Great crested newts, a protected species, were also found there, and had to be relocated to the nearby Newton Aycliffe nature reserve. We also needed to divert a public footpath.” The survey did find evidence of ancient settlement in the
area, but archaeology was limited in the land directly under the factory site and any findings were preserved where possible and recorded for posterity. Even with the planning green light given, it was obvious that
such a large scale manufacturing facility would require a significant amount of essential services and utilities to be pro- vided. The trouble was that virtually no infrastructure of this sort was in place on this undeveloped site, and most of these services have had to run to the site for the first time. The ground had to be prepared and levelled, a mammoth
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