Left to right: Stewart Watkins, managing director, Business Durham; Darren Cumner, Hitachi’s plant manager, Newton Aycliffe; Geoff Hunton, director, Merchant Place Developments and Keith Jordan, managing director, Hitachi Rail Europe.

Following on from last year’s Open Day for the Hitachi Rail Europe project proposed for Newton Aycliffe, the developer, Merchant Place Developments,  Hitachi and Business Durham hosted another Open Day this time focused on the three main contract phases of the project
“It was a great success possibly best reflected by the number of companies queuing up to introduce themselves to Darren Cumner, Hitachi’s appointed manager for the Hitachi plant,” says MPD’s marketing consultant, Chris Dobson.
The event was held at Aycliffe’s Xcel Centre, rated by Mr. Dobson as one of the best venues in the region. About 400 individuals registered for the event on Business Durham’s Hitachi Rail project website. They represented potential suppliers that could be directly involved in the procurement strategy of Hitachi’s 450,000 sq ft building work upon which is likely to start at the end of this year.
Geoff Hunton, director, Merchant Place Develop-ments, the developer of the 104 acres Amazon Park strategic site, explained the contract process:
“To enable the project to proceed with all haste after the completion of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) contract with the DfT the last two years has used the full Design Team now in place to complete the technical aspects of the project preceding the construction process. The sequence would be from tender action through to site start and building completion over a three year period.
“The Hitachi project will be controlled through three main contracts, each one having its own sub-contractor element.
“The first contract is for Archaeological investi-gations prior to work starting on the second contract phase, the main Design and Build, turnkey, contract. This will cover on-site works including the main production building together with office and storage accommodation as well as the on-site rail infrastructure and test track facility.
“As part of this contract we will be identifying specialist supply services required such as paint spray booths, staging, test facilities and so on that may appeal to local firms.
“The Third contract is for off-site rail works connecting to the Network Rail infrastructure, creating the rail access to the site and repositioning the existing Shildon branch line track to facilitate the construction of the test track.
“The three main contracts will be run together with the component elements of each contract so all contractors can identify the work opportunities. I reiterate that it is our aim, where appropriate , that we will identify regionally-based suppliers for this very important inward investment project.”
Keith Jordan, Managing Director of Hitachi Rail Europe, explained that Hitachi’s investment in a rail manufacturing plant in the UK ” is a major step for the company and also for the local area. Our plans for this UK plant are very mature”.
“The Hitachi Open Day gave potential suppliers for the construction phase and the fit-out of the plant the opportunity to find out more about how they could get involved. We are ready to start the build phase of the plant, which can closely follow the close of contract with the DfT.”