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.

Brightland Estates have awarded Williams Tarr a £1.7 million fast track design and build contract for a 26,000 s.f. fire damage replacement building for Total Polyfilm at Walton Summit, Preston. Total Polyfilm, the major manufacturers of high quality polythene film products,  lost their Conversion Hall in a huge fire in May 2016. The race is now on to get the facility back up and running in the Summer.

The original building was totally gutted in the fire and following demolition, erection of the new steel framed building is in progress. Abutting manufacturing buildings survived and all the re-construction activities are being carried out within the busy live 24 hour operational factory areas.

The replacement facility comprises production/warehouse areas, two storey offices, staff amenities and canteen. The scope of works includes extensive fit out and M&E works. Williams Tarr have sequenced the construction programme to ensure that Total Polyfilm can be be given early access to commence their  machinery installations.

The employer’s agent is Carter Jonas based in Leeds, architects are the local practice JYM Partnership and the structural engineers are Mason Navarro Pledge from Hitchin.

Williams Tarr have secured four new projects including two retail unit reconfigurations in Liverpool city centre for Aviva and Liverpool One, a job at Whitehouse Vale, Runcorn for YKK UK Ltd., and an industrial scheme for Alpla UK at Stonecross Business Park, Golborne.

Whilst the contracts were won in tender, all four are repeat business awards from recent satisfied customers.

Williams Tarr Construction Managing Director,  David Wilkinson, commented:

We fully appreciate that referrals are the key to our business’ longevity.  Most referrals begin with the relationship first, followed by the quality work that was completed for the project. We have a core philosophy of maintaining high standards and excellent relationships with all clients, consultants and our supply chain to achieve first class delivery on all jobs.  Invariably this brings repeat opportunities.

Williams Tarr have commenced a £1 million design and build contract to build three POD units at Kingsway Retail Park, Rochdale.

The new units are situated on the perimeter of the park immediately adjacent to the busy Kingsway A664 trunk road and have been pre-let to Greggs, Costa Coffee and Subway. The 17 week project includes associated external works, new drainage and services infrastructure, car park and vehicle entrance remodelling.

Employer’s agents are JLL, novated architects are  Urban Edge Architecture and the novated structural engineers are Fleming Smith Associates.

Williams Tarr Contracts Manager Chris Lee said:

These quick turn-round projects require excellent planning, co-ordination and close liaison with the client and retail park management to ensure we meet the early hand-over dates whilst keeping existing businesses and the general public happy.

Williams Tarr have handed over the new Home Bargains store at Prescot Business Park on schedule and it is now being stocked and commissioned ready for opening this week.

The 25,000 s.f. £2.4 million purpose built flag-ship facility for T J Morris, is another demonstration that Home Bargains,  the highest ranking discount retailer, are going from strength to strength.

The building has been designed and constructed to a very high standard with striking architectural features including “Rockpanel Woods” wood grain effect rainscreen cladding, expansive curtain walling and a feature entrance tower with canopy.

Employer’s Agent, Scott Boyle of Faithful + Gould commented:

The team of Chris Lee, John Rodgers & John Ratcliffe were great. They worked with the design team really well to find solutions to any problems that arose. The team always reacted quickly to any issues or queries which was much appreciated. We would certainly like to work with Williams Tarr in the future given the success of this project – it was completed on time and within budget.

Williams Tarr Construction have won the design and build contract for a new £4.5 million HQ office and warehouse facility for Kays Medical at Speke.

The 50,000 s.f. scheme will provide a state-of-the-art 3 storey office block linked to a high bay warehouse. External works include a new access road and service yard, 70 car spaces and dense landscaping to the site boundaries.

Architects, Denovo Limited, have designed striking office elevations with expanses of curtain walling, brise soleil and a feature main entrance portico. Warehouse elevations will have a matt white composite cladding system. The warehouse interior will be zoned for storage of different products.

The development is situated on a prominent plot at Estuary Business Park, next  to the busy Speke Boulevard A561 ring road. The site was previously occupied by a part of the original Liverpool Airport facility.

Kays Medical supply organisations with the products to protect their most valuable resource – their people, providing a huge range of products for occupational health, safety and workforce wellbeing.

The 34 week contract will commence on site shortly, with completion scheduled for September 2017.

David Wilkinson, M.D. of Williams Tarr Construction commented:

Following our recent completion of a high bay pharmaceutical warehouse and offices for Seqirus just down the road in Speke, we were really pleased to win this excellent new HQ facility for Kays Medical. We perform well on contracts like this that require extra attention to detail and quality.

Williams Tarr Construction have completed a new restaurant and associated works at Ashton Moss Leisure Park. The £650,000 design and build contract for Legal & General comprised a Costa Coffee drive-thru’ unit shell, a new link road, various alterations and extensions to car parking and external works areas and modifications to services and drainage.

The site is at the entrance to the leisure park, adjacent to the Metrolink route running along Lord Sheldon Way.

Construction of retail schemes in live environments is a speciality of Williams Tarr. Projects like this always have to be delivered to a high standard, with the utmost health and safety, in the minimum of time, and with minimal disruption to the tenants and general public.

This fast-track job for Legal & General was handed over on schedule and the Williams Tarr team were complimented by the incoming tenants on the overall build quality.

The Employer’s Agent was AVID, the QS was Todd & Ledson, the novated design team were AWAKE Architects and Ward Cole Consulting Engineers.

Williams Tarr have commenced a £3.6 million design and build scheme to construct the new Denbigh Retail Park for Liberty Properties.

The development comprises six new retail units in three blocks totalling 32,000 s.f. with a detached 18,600 s.f. (GIA) Aldi store as the focal point.

Situated off Vale Street and Station Road close to the town centre, most of the site was formerly a railway yard. Extensive enablement works are  now progressing to demolish old buildings, divert a culvert and other services. External works will include a new main estate road, and construction of service yards and 180 car spaces.

Williams Tarr Chief Estimator Simon Buckley commented:

Over past few months we’ve worked closely with the client, architects Leach Rhodes Walker and structural engineers Shepherd Gilmour to develop the design in line with budgets and planning requirements. Now we’re delighted that it’s all systems go!

Williams Tarr Construction have won a £750,000 design and build contract for a new retail store for HD Properties LLP in Liverpool. The building will be a showroom and store for Magnet, the well known kitchen retailer. Like Williams Tarr, Magnet, were established almost 100 years ago way back in 1918!

Located at a prominent junction on the main Edge Lane highway opposite Liverpool Innovation Park, the site was formerly occupied by a petrol station. The new eye-catching scheme maximises the site area, with building frontages immediately adjacent to public footpaths on the two main elevations.

Appleyard and Trew are the Employer’s Agent, with novated architects Pozzonii, and novated structural engineers DW Consulting.

Williams Tarr Director John Hughes commented:

It’s pleasing to win this job – I’ve known the client for over 30 years and we’ve worked successfully with all the professional team on many previous design and build  projects

Following handover by Williams Tarr in August, a new Costa Coffee restaurant has opened for customers at St. Helens Retail Park, Peasley Cross.

The D&B contract for UBS Global Investors involved site preparation to deal with abnormal ground and remove major concrete obstructions in readiness for the piled foundations. The project included adaptations of the roads and car parking. Sited alongside the main access route into the busy retail park the works required careful traffic management to minimise inconvenience to the trading operations.

The Employer’s Agent was Trident Building Consultancy, the novated designers were Harris Partnership (architects) and Brian Clancy Higby Partnership (structural engineers).

Williams Tarr Construction Managing Director, David Wilkinson said:

We’ve built numerous Costa Coffee units for a variety of blue chip institutional clients and we’re pleased to have continued our excellent relationship with UBS and their team on this latest project