Yorkon News Archives

28/08/2001 – Yorkon completes construction of new site headquarters for Syngenta in Scotland

Modular construction specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has completed construction of new office and laboratory facilities at Grangemouth for Syngenta, the world's leading agribusiness company.

The formation of Syngenta, following the merger of Novartis and AstraZeneca's agribusinesses and the division of the Grangemouth site, created a shortfall in office and laboratory accommodation. Yorkon's award winning modular building system was chosen to provide a new, purpose-designed office scheme, which would reflect the company's strong corporate image.

Because much of the building work took place at Yorkon's 60-acre production facility in York, the new £1.5m site headquarters for Syngenta were completed just five months after the start of work on site.

The Illiad building has a light grey external finish with contrasting charcoal glazing and tinted glass in keeping with Syngenta's high-tech image and reputation for innovation. The interior is modern and spacious. The use of full height glazing on both the front and rear elevations adds interest to the exterior and allows a large amount of natural light to enter the building. The reception area is designed to be welcoming for visitors to the site, and features a natural slate floor and curved reception desk, which is reflected in the suspended ceiling above it.

Yorkon has also completed a second contract in Grangemouth as part of Syngenta's multimillion pound investment in a new production plant for second generation strobilurin fungicide. A three-storey control building provides open plan and cellular office accommodation, changing rooms, a testing laboratory, conference facilities and an operations control centre.

Commenting on the decision to use the modular building method, Allan McKenzie of Syngenta, said, “Our experience with Yorkon's building system at other sites has shown that modular construction can achieve significant savings in programme time. This means that new facilities can be brought into beneficial use much earlier, which is a key advantage in a fast changing industry.”

“Health and safety is a prime concern for our business. Yorkon's accommodation solutions allow much closer monitoring off-site, which reduces the impact on existing operations and production activities. The result is a considerably safer construction site.”

Following the completion of the two schemes in Grangemouth, Syngenta has presented Yorkon with two awards for excellence in site safety in its annual Engineering, Maintenance and Construction Safety Awards.