Engineering firm appointed to West Yorkshire blue light project

A specialist engineering firm has been appointed to undertake another blue light project in Kirklees, West Yorkshire.

The appointment sees SES working again with lead contractor, Willmott Dixon and on this occasion, with West Yorkshire Police. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2024.

Located on the former Kirklees College site on Halifax Road, Dewsbury, the new-build custody suite, office accommodation and adjacent car park, will be a flagship project for West Yorkshire Police, and will provide face-to-face support for members of the public, as well as community accessible meeting rooms.

Currently, the site includes several buildings from the 60s and 70s which will be demolished, as well as the Oldroyd Building, built in 1893, which was gifted to the area as an arts and technical college by a local philanthropist of the same name. Once refurbished, the Police will use this primarily as office accommodation.

SES was appointed following a competitive tender and interview against a Stage 3 design with the decision based on cost, capability, experience and added social value.

It is the eighth blue light project SES has worked on with Willmott Dixon under the Scape Framework since 2015 with two similar schemes currently on site at Nottingham and Humberside.

As Steve Joyce, managing director said: “I am delighted to be collaborating once more with Willmott Dixon on a significant project for West Yorkshire Police and Kirklees.

“Our combined experience and proven track record of delivering projects requiring highly complex building services within custodial environments, will ensure the installation will be completed in a timely fashion and to the exacting standards required by the Home Office.

“We will be working in conjunction with the professional and design teams to deliver a full BIM Level 2 model.

Steve concluded: “The project offers the potential for extensive offsite manufacture using our Prism facility, including horizontal distribution modules, risers and plant skids and we are targeting a PMV (pre-manufactured value) of greater than 65 per cent.

“There will also be electric vehicle charging points and PV deployment to assist with sustainability.”