Cementing begins pile works at Sheffield Forgemasters

Cementation Skanska has started piling work on the 150m by 84m site at Sheffield Forgemasters’ Brightside Lane base.

The piling specialist will construct a 200 meter long secant pile wall for the new forge, between eight and 10 meters deep. In total, 1,500 pilots will be needed for the project.

These foundations will support a 13,800 sq m building containing a new 13,000 ton heavy forging press, furnaces, tempering pits and cranes.

As previously reported, Vinci Building has a £138m contract to deliver the Forge Building, while state-owned Sheffield Forgemasters is carrying out a site-wide recapitalization program in support of the Kingdom’s defense programs United.

Craig Fisher, director of recapitalization and transformation at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “We are now at a significant stage in our Forge project, with the site fully cleared and processed so that pilot work can continue.

“This moves the project into its next phase, which is where the pace of delivery increases.”

Demolition and remediation work has been underway for the past seven months, including removing the internal steel structures, stabilizing the soil, removing any contaminants, processing over 25,000 m³ of prey and crushing 4,500 m³ of old concrete to clean up the site.

Vinci Building Regional Director Chris Winspear said: “We are delighted to have now completed demolition and prepared the first site areas ready to receive the substructure works for the new building. We look forward to the next phase of the project, working in collaboration with our supply chain partner, Cementation Skanska, appointed to deliver the piling and ground engineering package.”

The forging line is scheduled to be operational in the summer of 2027 and will be complemented by a new machining facility, which is currently being expanded, containing several versions of the largest and most advanced five-axis vertical turning lathes axes in the world.

Craig Fisher added: “The scope of what we are undertaking at Sheffield Forgemasters is unmatched since the Victorian era, with facilities that will work to create a new standard of precision, innovation and large-scale engineering speed for complex, quality components nuclear.

“An increase in defense contracts has meant that we need the capacity of our facilities to be able to match increased capacity.”

Turner & Townsend supports Sheffield Forgemasters with services including project management, project controls and health and safety alongside Tetra-Tech.

Sheffield Forgemasters was nationalized in 2021 and placed under the Ministry of Defence.

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