£24m fire resistance testing laboratory handed over six weeks ahead of schedule

Warringtonfire's Birchwood Park site

The official opening of a £24m fire resistance testing facility in Warrington is on course for January 2025.

It follows completion of the construction phase at Warringtonfire’s state of the art laboratory, after principal contractor, Tilbury Douglas, handed over the site earlier this month, six weeks ahead of schedule.

Warringtonfire, part of the Element Materials Technology group, will operate the new centre at a 101,000 sq ft site in Birchwood Park, following its January 2 opening.

In the meantime, Warringtonfire’s team will be focusing on UKAS validation and accreditation for its five furnaces and operations.

This process is expected to be completed by the end of November, ensuring that the laboratory is ready to accept test specimens when it opens its doors.

Inside new Warringtonfire lab

Meanwhile, Warringtonfire’s fire resistance testing team will gradually transition from its Holmesfield Road laboratory ahead of the launch. As part of the expansion, 50 new jobs have already been filled, including all maintenance engineers and technical officer positions. 

Dafydd Llewelyn-Jones, Senior Project Manager for Warringtonfire, has led the construction project since its inception in August 2023.

He said: “It is with great pride and excitement that I can announce our new laboratory is on track to open at the start of next year.

As we strive to enhance building safety, the importance of fire testing continues to grow, driven by numerous industry factors that will increase the need for fire testing capacity in the near future.

“Our new laboratory is poised to address this growing demand by tripling the capacity of our current Holmesfield Road site. Furthermore, we have future-proofed our operations with a range of sustainable solutions designed to minimise environmental impact while delivering safety critical services.” 

Once the Birchwood Park laboratory is fully operational, Warringtonfire’s Holmesfield Road facility will be transformed into a centre of excellence for Reaction to Fire testing, building on the significant investment already made to increase its construction, rail and marine testing services with the introduction of upgraded equipment and expanded capacity for single burning item and roof testing.

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