Contract win to build testing facility for gear manufacturer

Yorkshire business Triton Construction has secured a £1.5m contract to build a testing facility for global gear manufacturer, David Brown Santasalo.

The contract includes the construction of a 5,400 sq ft warehouse building at its headquarters site in Huddersfield and includes full mechanical and engineering installation, associated external works and drainage.

The facility is being purpose built for testing new and refurbished gearboxes and Triton is installing special measures for anti-vibration and sound proofing.

David Brown Santasalo has a global service presence, which includes over 1,100 employees across 28 locations, spanning six continents.

It engineers, manufactures, and supports industrial gearboxes for industries including oil and gas, mining and minerals, marine and port operations and rail.

It is also internationally recognised as an innovative supplier of bespoke land and marine power transmission systems to the defence industry.

Triton was awarded the contract following previous work for David Brown Santasalo, in which it successfully delivered two manufacturing and engineering buildings in a deal worth £5 m.

It has also installed a gear box testing rig for a naval frigate, designed to hold the gearbox in position during testing at full capacity.

Paul Clarkson, managing director at Triton Construction, said: “We are delighted to continue our working relationship with such an admired and prestigious company.

“We are mindful of the important and confidential nature of the work carried out at David Brown Santasalo and continue to operate discreetly to minimise disruption during site movements.

“The requirements are also very specialist with considerable weight, sound and vibration proofing that impact on structural as well as underground provisions.”

Steve Watson, global defence director and managing director UK at David Brown Santasalo, said: “David Brown Santasalo has won a number of long term major defence projects during recent years which have required significant infrastructure improvements to the Huddersfield site.

“Triton Construction has previously built the facilities for the assembly, integration and test of marine gearboxes and has now been selected to build the new land defence gearbox test facility.”