Williams Tarr celebrated 99 years of trading with their traditional Anniversary Dinner at Warrington Golf Club. The event was attended by almost 50 professionals; a sociable mix of distinguished construction and property clients and consultants.

Williams Tarr M.D. David Wilkinson opened proceedings by welcoming everyone and thanked them for their friendship and support. He was pleased to report that the firm’s order book was healthy, however there was a constant need to keep the pipeline well fed.

Once again, the guest speaker was Professor Patrick Minford C.B.E., the eminent economist who was a leading financial adviser to Margaret Thatcher. Patrick is an expert on the financial aspects of Brexit and his talk concentrated on the hot topics of “Brexit – What Next?”  and “Deal or No Deal”.

Patrick’s presentation was, as ever, entertaining and thought provoking. Guests included the proverbial Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman, ensuring that the emotive Brexit topic led to the evening being rounded off with an amusing and lively Q&A session.

Next year’s Williams Tarr Anniversary  Dinner promises to be a major event to commemorate the company’s Centenary.

Williams Tarr have commenced work on another two repeat business retail park schemes worth £2.5million.

At Willenhall near Walsall we are creating a new 31,000 sq. ft. Home Bargains store for T J Morris. The unit, located off the Keyway Retail Park on Armstrong Way, has lain vacant since fire tore through it a decade ago and it is now being brought back to life with an extensive reconstruction scheme.

Over in North Wales at Central Retail Park Wrexham, Aviva Investors have appointed Williams Tarr to carry out the strip out and major refurbishment to reconfigure two existing units into one new store for B&M Bargains. Work is well under way and the project is due to be completed in just 16 weeks.

Williams Tarr Construction M.D. David Wilkinson commented:

We are delighted to win more repeat works from these two blue chip clients. We strive to maintain a high standard of project delivery on all contracts and this ethos creates long term relationships that lead to further orders.

Williams Tarr Director, John Hughes has recently returned from an epic three week adventure to Everest Base Camp in Nepal.

The trip commenced with a day’s sightseeing in the iconic city of Kathmandu before flying out to the short, steep, mountain airstrip at Lukla.

Accompanied by three pals from his mountaineering club, John then made a 17 day trek up into the Sagarmatha National Park, staying in village “tea houses” en route.

Their hike passed through the ancient  trading post of Namche Bazaar up to Gokyo Lakes, the highest lake system on earth. Then they scaled the 17.600 foot peak of Gokyo Ri to take in  tremendous “roof of the World” views of Mount Everest and three other  8,000 metre peaks.

They continued via the Khumbu valley to Everest Base Camp, staying overnight at the tiny settlement of Gorak Shep. From there the four climbed the peak of Kala Patthar, the high point of the route at 18,200 feet that gave them breath-taking close-up views of Everest and Nuptse.

At the end of the trek, they spent two days of well-earned rest and relaxation in Kathmandu. On his return at the end of November, John commented:

It was the experience of a life-time. With the reduced oxygen and tough terrain the trek was challenging, but the scenery was absolutely stunning at every step. We enjoyed blue skies and sunshine every day and were enchanted by the Nepalese people and their rich culture and heritage. Our Kathmandu based trekking company, “Visit Himalayas Treks” were excellent.

I want to go back to Nepal soon!

Following their recently completed refurbishment project at Ravenhead Retail Park, Wiliams Tarr are back on site undertaking a £1.3m contract to modify the structure of Unit 11 in preparation for the new M&S store fit out.

After 90 years of trading at Church Street in St. Helens town centre, M&S will soon be relocating to this larger, brand-new store at Ravenhead.

The existing 19,000 sq. ft. retail unit will be doubled in size with the installation of a new structural steelwork mezzanine floor, accessed by two feature staircases with balustrading.

Extensive substructure works within the building include mezzanine foundation bases and pits for two lifts, an escalator and a scissor lift. The foundations will be supported on 60 No. bottom driven mini piles installed using special rigs to ensure low noise and low vibration. Various internal walls and lift shafts will be built and the roof will be modified to suit the lift over-run.

The main façade is to be remodelled to include full height facing brick feature panels and a new main entrance within structural glazing. Mains services capacities will be increased and additional foul and surface water drainage will be provided.

Work is scheduled for an October completion, to be immediately followed by the M&S interior store fit out operation.

Williams Tarr Construction has been awarded another design and build contract by Legal & General Assurance to construct a new £1.1+ million TGI Fridays restaurant and associated works at Ashton Leisure Park.

The prominent site is at the entrance to the leisure park, adjacent to a  drive-thru McDonalds and a Harvester pub with the Metrolink tram route running alongside, on Lord Sheldon Way.

Scheduled for completion in 20 weeks, the new restaurant will have facing brickwork elevations and expansive windows with louvre features and a high level white rendered fascia up to the 6.4 metre eaves level. The substructure  is  reinforced concrete supported by pre-cast concrete piles. The scope of works includes new hard and soft landscaping, mains services and  drainage.

Williams Tarr specialise in the construction of retail schemes in live environments. As ever, stringent health and safety measures and minimising any disruption to the tenants and general public will be fundamental to the success fo this project.

The Employer’s Agent/Project Manager is AVID, the QS is Todd & Ledson, and the novated design team are AWAKE Architects and Ward Cole Consulting Engineers.

Williams Tarr M.D. David Wilkinson commented:

We are delighted to secure repeat business from blue chip customers like L&G. Our last job for this client was handed over on schedule and we were pleased to be complimented on the overall build quality.

Williams Tarr has successfully completed a £2.5m re-roofing/refurbishment contract at Hindley Green Business Park, Wigan for Highgate Unit Trust.

The works involved roof replacement/repair work and general refurbishments to 150,000 sq. ft. of industrial space as part of a major upgrade programme.

Areas of asbestos cement roofing were stripped off and replaced with Kingspan MR1000 composite panels, whilst other areas including one of the occupied units were repaired with a Gyromax Delcote spray-on silicone coating system. The scope included the identification and removal of asbestos contamination, various modifications to external and internal walls to remove redundant doorways and the formation of new openings and a dock leveller.

The 1,000 kVA power supply was relocated and the existing domestic sub-station was completely reconfigured with new switchgear. H.V. and L.V. power installations and new fire alarm systems were installed and routed through the buildings.

Three of the units were opened up to form a new 100,000 sq. ft. production facility for incoming tenant Corenso, one of the World’s leading manufacturers of high performance cores. Operations were programmed to allow Corenso early access to commence their factory fit-out.

The sensitive works within this complex and partially live environment were safely and successfully carried out under a partnering agreement which engendered a positive team approach working closely with the Employer and lead consultants Tuffin Ferraby Taylor, (TFT).

Williams Tarr Contracts Director Trevor Hughes commented:

We’ve completed numerous refurbishment projects like this and it’s satisfying to know that we were able to resolve various unforeseen technical issues smoothly and amicably with the Client and his team to achieve a successful result.

Williams Tarr have commenced work on a £2.5m scheme for T J Morris at the Peel Centre, Hyndburn. The 49,000 sq. ft. Unit 1 is being gutted and completely refurbished and sub-divided to form a 34,000 sq. ft. Home Bargains Retail Store and a 15,000 sq. ft. unit ear-marked for another occupier.

Pictured right – the 49,000 sq. ft. unit about to be rejuvenated

The project involves a full strip out old fixtures, fittings, mezzanine floors and internal  walls.  Then all external masonry cavity walls, profiled cladding and roof coverings will be removed back to the steel frame. The frame will be repaired and be modified to form parapets. New secondary steelwork will be installed for the roof and to support new profiled cladding.  New external walls will comprise facing brickwork and  feature micro-rib composite cladding with expansive glazed shop fronts and entrance lobbies.

Williams Tarr Contracts Manager, Paul Hamlett  says:

Its good to be back on site for T J Morris, on this exciting refurbishment scheme. It’s our latest in a line of retail developments for this valued client, helping to provide a new and exciting store in the Hyndburn area. It’s especially pleasing to be bringing new life to the building which has been empty for a number of years. The design will bring an attractive and striking new façade to the building, and provide the local residents with a top class, modern shopping experience.

Williams Tarr have commenced the phase one refurbishment of Cheetham Hill Retail Park for Sports Direct Property Ltd. The £2.6m design and build project to reconfigure and refurb half of the park, entails extensive work to the building envelope including an eye-catching new flat ceramic panel façade with expansive curtain walling and feature entrances.

Internally, a large area of floor slab is to be renewed and piled foundations are being installed to support the new 4,000 m² concrete mezzanine floor, which will almost double the phase one retail floor area. Other internal works include new escape staircases, pits for lifts and an escalator, new party walls and modifications to sprinklers and emergency lighting.

External works involve adaptations to the car park and entrance pavings, drainage and mains services.

The busy adjoining stores are occupied by B&M Bargains and Currys/PC World, so it is essential that the work does not impact on their trading whilst ensuring full unhindered and safe access to customers. With completion of the shell scheduled in December, Lidl are set to be one of the new occupiers.

Cube are Project Managers for the Client, Pozzoni are the Architects and WYG are carrying out the structural design.

Williams Tarr M.D. David Wilkinson commented:

We’ve been working with the Sports Direct team developing the design on this scheme for some time and we’re delighted that we can now get construction operations under way.  The new facades will give the park a truly outstanding, modern look on this prominent corner site.

Following the recent major refurbishment by Williams Tarr at Cheetham Hill Retail Park, the new Sports Direct and Lidl Stores are now open for business.

The existing units have been completely re-vamped to an ultra-modern standard with new roof and wall cladding and an extensive mezzanine floor was introduced to increase the floor area by 40,000 sq. ft.

The attractive new curtain walled facades have transformed the old units and created an ambience for the new stores that is more than a match for other retail parks in the area.

Williams Tarr Contracts Manager Paul Hamlett said:

We had to overcome some interesting logistical problems in constructing the new piled mezzanine foundations within the confines of the existing building shell. In the event it all went very smoothly and we’re delighted with the finished job. The new facades look really striking.

Williams Tarr are well under way with the construction of a new £4 million-plus mixed retail and leisure project at Preston for Sports Direct. The scheme involves the complete refurbishment and doubling in size of Unit A at Deepdale Retail Park on Blackpool Road.

Formerly occupied by Toys r Us, the original 44,500 sq. ft. unit is being stripped back to a bare steel frame and completely rebuilt, including the introduction of a steel-framed mezzanine floor to the full area, almost doubling the existing floor space. The new unit is being configured to accommodate for Sports Direct, Evans Cycles and Flannels luxury clothing, together with a state-of-the-art Everlast Fitness Centre on the first floor.

As the building sits on a former land-fill site, an extensive network of pre-augured bottom driven piles are being installed to carry the new pad foundations. The mezzanine will have a composite metal deck and power floated concrete floor. Careful reinstatement of existing geo-membranes under the floor slab and external works will be required as works progress.

The new roof and wall cladding will incorporate large areas of glazed curtain walling and feature entrances. Internally the scope includes the introduction of a new passenger/goods lift, a platform lift and an escalator. Changing rooms, toilets and offices for the gym are to be incorporated, together with ancillary store rooms, etc.

Other works include sprinklers, external lighting, new incoming mains and adaptations to external works and drainage.

Williams Tarr Managing Director, David Wilkinson said:

Having recently finished a major retail scheme at Cheetham Hill for Sports Direct, it’s gratifying to secure repeat business. We are very experienced at delivering projects in live environments.