Fibre Extrusion Technology (FET) supplies bespoke extrusion equipment for the manufacture of absorbable and resorbable yarns, fibres and polymers. The firm’s products are used in goods such as medical sutures, running trainers and manufacturing.
The company has a large export market, and the team was keen for a new R&D Centre to showcase and research the firm’s technologies to visiting foreign clients.
Therefore, FET acquired the unit at the side of their existing manufacturing facility. Lodestone Projects was appointed to undertake a complete refurbishment of the building. This involved replacing the roof, over cladding the external walls and providing new windows and doors. We also completely stripped the internals to form high-quality office, meeting, breakout, research and development areas.
The site is extremely constrained and located within a busy business park. This meant logistics and management of materials, waste and site personnel was the main challenge.
We navigated this by utilising a full-time, dedicated site manager who coordinated the day-to-day day operations, while Lodestone’s Josh Turner managed programme and design.
The other major challenge was the coordination of complex services required to facilitate the advanced manufacturing process alongside the aesthetics and desire to provide high-quality and comfortable office spaces. We managed this process by designing and partnering with the mechanical and electrical service, as well as working closely with the architect to ensure function and form complemented one another, all while maintaining the programme.
The project was delivered on time, under budget and with zero health and safety incidents. The facility is now fully operational and enhancing the client’s business offering.