Spirax Sarco invests £25 million in UK manufacturing

Spirax Sarco is investing close to £25 million to consolidate and modernise its manufacturing facilities in Cheltenham. The project will improve customer service, reduce order lead-times and ensure that the manufacturing operations are more environmentally-friendly.

The ‘Unity Project’ will bring Spirax Sarco’s existing manufacturing and R&D operations at three sites around Cheltenham onto one site at Runnings Road. Spirax Sarco has acquired a five-acre site across the road from its existing factory to provide the space for the consolidation. A tunnel will be built underneath the road to enable goods to be transferred between plants without disrupting local traffic and ensuring the highest levels of health and safety.

As well as revamping the layout at the existing site, a new finished-goods warehouse and central boiler house will be built. Work also includes developing new assembly stations, replacing the electrical distribution system and installing new material racking and handling equipment.

New environmental efficiency measures include upgrading the energy management of the site beyond current regulations with building insulation, daylight lighting and automatic, low-energy lighting. The consolidation of three sites onto one will also reduce significantly the transport of goods and the movement of personnel across Cheltenham, bringing further environmental benefits.

“Today’s steam technology has a central role to play in helping our customers reduce their energy consumption. We are determined to further show our commitment to sustainability within this project, which is why we have put lower environmental impact high on the project’s priorities,” says Marc Eggermont, Director UK and RoI, Spirax Sarco. “Spirax Sarco is one of Cheltenham’s largest employers and has had continuous manufacturing operations here for over 60years. This huge investment maintains our commitment to running a state-of-the-art engineering capability in the UK.” 

The entire project is expected to be completed in 2011.

Spirax Sarco provides a broad range of fluid control products, engineered packages, site services and systems expertise for its diverse range of over 100,000 industrial and institutional customers worldwide. The company helps its customers to optimise production capacity, reduce energy costs and emissions, improve product quality and enhance the safety of their operations.