North West

£3.5m new global headquarters for LGC Standards now complete

LGC Headquarters Carlyle StreetCube Architecture have used their tried and tested design and construction experience to complete a new global headquarters for LGC Standards on Carlyle Street, Bury.

LGC Standards have now completely relocated their offices, laboratories and warehouse operations from the Europa Business Park in Bury to The Green on Carlyle Street as part of further expansion plans. Their aim is to provide a global centre of excellence for the operation of the company’s proficiency testing business, which encompasses various industries, including: food and drinks, brewing, pharmaceuticals and the environmental industry.

Trafford Park firm Russells Construction secured the design and build contract, and Cube Architecture and Design were the architects and lead consultant.

The development replaced an old factory unit and comprises a two storey office and laboratory building to the front which interconnects with a general warehouse facility behind. In total, there is 600ft² of office space, 600ft² of laboratory space and 700ft² of warehouse space.

The property is of a portal steel frame construction with brick and render elevations to the office under a pitched profile steel clad roof with powder coated aluminium double glazed windows. The offices also feature full three pipe heat recovery, a VRF comfort cooling system and a suspended ceiling.LGC Headquarters Carlyle Street

The warehouse to the rear is of brick and profile metal clad elevations with a single electronically operated roller shutter loading door leading to a self contained loading yard. It has been designed with future flexibility in mind and is therefore capable of being converted into 2 storey offices if required – this will be subject to planning the installation of mezzanine and further building works.

Located 16km (10 miles) north of Manchester City Centre and 10km (6 miles) east of Bolton, it is within easy access of the M61, M62 and M60 motorways, with direct access to the Peel Way (A56 and Bolton Street A58) inner ring road. The Green is part of the Chamberhall Business Park in the heart of Bury town centre. The Green development is located at the entrance to the business park, which itself extends to 35 acres.

Penny Anderson Associates Ltd was commissioned by Property Alliance Group to develop the ecological concept design for the site. The land adjacent to the site is owned by Bury MBC and the habitat proposals were designed to link in with this area in order to improve ecological connectivity within the context of the area and along the corridor of the River Irwell, which binds the site of both sides.

LGC Standards is a major international provider of proficiency testing services and provide over 35 schemes to over 7,000 laboratories all over the world. The company was originally started in 1842 and has been involved with forensic work since 1910. Proficiency testing is an essential element of quality assurance as the schemes are designed to improve the quality of analysis by enabling laboratories to confirm their ability to perform tests competently.

LGC has operated in Bury since 2004 and employs 45 staff, including microbiologists, chemists, sales and marketing and logistics personnel.

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