APP Construction Completes Environmentally-friendly Dealership Projects For Claas UK

APP Construction has recently completed two projects for Claas dealerships in the UK, the first one at Sinderby near Thirsk in North Yorkshire and the other at Micheldever in Hampshire. Two more Claas dealership developments are planned in Suffolk and Dorset and altogether the four projects will be worth around £2.5 million. Claas UK is a subsidiary of German-owned Claas Gruppe, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery.

At Sinderby the development has a footprint of 12,500 square feet (1161.3 m2) comprising showroom, workshop, parts sales centre, offices and conference facilities. Micheldever is 6,000 sq feet (557.4 m2) comprising workshop, office and parts sales centre. The further two dealership buildings will be at Halesworth in Suffolk and Puddletown in Dorset and both will be complete by the end of 2011.

Claas and its architects Turton Associates of York selected APP ahead of bigger and longer-established construction firms because of its flexible and practical response to the first tender – the Sinderby project. “The build process was well-managed, APP worked closely with us accommodating our need to continue to trade on site from temporary facilities,” said Richard Vaughan, General Manager, Retail Operations, Claas UK. “That’s why we will be continuing our successful relationship with APP in the future.”

Stuart Turton, senior partner of Turton Associates added: “The management and site operatives were most professional in their approach to delivering the project in a timely and resourceful manner, they are to be congratulated on their achievement.”

Both Sinderby and Micheldever developments drew on APP’s specialist engineering expertise to overcome site problems. At Micheldever, the process of making 15,000-volt electricity cables adjacent to the site safe in collaboration with local utility suppliers was a challenge. At Sinderby, groundworks were delayed for eight weeks because of heavy snow in December 2010 and thereafter the work was disrupted because of road construction on the A1 adjacent to the site.

But Richard Vaughan praised APP’s approach. “The team tackled the site problems in a calm and professional manner, working well with us so that delays were minimised,” he remarked.

Both developments have a range of environmentally-friendly features including heavily insulated building envelopes, a Bio Disc unit and underground water storage at Micheldever and rainwater harvesting at Sinderby.

These two developments are owned by Claas Retail Properties and will be operated by agricultural distributors Eastern Harvesters in Sinderby and Southern Harvesters in Hampshire. Across both dealerships, it is expected that 10 new jobs will be created. Claas and its dealerships have started a nationwide programme of upgrading its property portfolio involving the demolition of existing facilities and complete rebuild. There are two main reasons: to accommodate the largest modern agricultural machinery and to provide top quality sales and meeting environments for customers and staff.