Cementation Skanska has begun piling works across the 150- by 84-metre site at Sheffield Forgemasters’ Brightside Lane base.
The piling specialist will construct a 200-metre long secant pile wall for the new forge, between eight and 10 metres deep. In total, 1,500 piles will be required for the project.
These foundations will support a 13,800 sqm building containing a new 13,000-tonne heavy forging press, furnaces, quenching pits and cranes.
As previously reported, Vinci Building has a £138m contract to deliver the Forge building while state-owned Sheffield Forgemasters is undertaking a site-wide recapitalisation programme in support of the UK’s defence programmes.
Craig Fisher, recapitalisation and transformation director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “We are now at a notable milestone in our Forge project, with the site fully cleared and processed so that piling works can proceed.
“This moves the project into its next phase, which is where the pace of delivery ramps up.”
Demolition and remediation works have been under way for the past seven months, including removal of internal steel structures, stabilising the ground, removal of any contaminants, processing more than 25,000 m3 of spoil, and crushing 4,500 m3 of old concrete to clear the site.
Vinci Building regional director Chris Winspear said: “We are delighted that we have now completed the demolition and prepared the first areas of site ready to receive the substructure works for the new building. We are looking forward to the next phase of the project working in collaboration with our supply chain partner, Cementation Skanska, appointed to undertake piling and ground engineering package of works.”
The forging line is set to be operational in the summer of 2027 and will be complemented by a new machining facility, which is currently being scoped, containing multiple versions of the world’s largest, most advanced, five-axis vertical turning lathes.
Craig Fisher added: “The scope of what we are undertaking at Sheffield Forgemasters is unmatched since the Victorian era, with facilities which will work to create a new standard of large-scale engineering accuracy, innovation and speed for complex, nuclear-grade components.
“An uplift in defence contracts has meant that we need the capacity of our facilities to be able to match increased throughput.”
Turner & Townsend is supporting Sheffield Forgemasters with services including project management, project controls and health & safety, alongside Tetra-Tech.
Sheffield Forgemasters was nationalised in 2021 and placed under the Ministry of Defence.
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