Stepnell gets £2.2m Food and Drink Innovation Centre contract
Contractor Stepnell has been awarded a £2.2 million construction contract to build Moulton College’s new Food and Drink Innovation Centre in Northamptonshire, UK.
Stepnell will begin work on the single-storey, 850 sq metre building in October 2017. The finished centre will provide improved teaching facilities for students as well as specialist testing and product development resources. Lyall, Bills and Young are the architects for the client team while consultants Mott MacDonald are managing the project.
The new building will feature food technology teaching rooms fitted with modern technology and equipment; a preparation kitchen and sensory room for product testing; a concept development kitchen; a bakery and confectionery laboratory and a micro-brewery. In addition, an employers’ lounge area will enable industry partners to network and meet with students.
Set to open in summer 2018, the Innovation Centre will enable students to work towards higher and degree apprenticeships and degrees in food science and technology, helping create the skilled workforce needed by the food and drink manufacturing industry which plays a major part in the local economy. The Centre’s testing and development facilities will also provide an important resource for Northamptonshire and East Midlands’ various food companies, allowing them to test new products locally.
As part of its own commitment to helping develop the construction industry’s new generation of workers, Stepnell will provide construction students at Moulton College with the chance to gain work experience on site through week-long supervised placements during the construction programme. The company will also arrange site visits for groups of students and give presentations about the project to students.
Bill Haynes, Stepnell construction director, says, “Our team has a proven track record of creating high-quality, exciting modern educational buildings and we’re thrilled to be drawing on that expertise to deliver this impressive facility.”
