£15m-turnover steelwork specialist Shawton Engineering secures contract to work on new market canopy as part of £30m Liverpool city region regeneration project. Tony McDonough reports
Steelwork specialist Shawton Engineering has secured a contract to work on the £30m regeneration of Earlestown Market Square and high streets.
Work on the scheme started in February and now main contractor Eric Wright Group has appointed Shawton, which is based in Newton-le-Willows, to help create a new canopy for one of the oldest working markets in the country.
Design of the canopy has been inspired by the nine arches of the Sankey Valley viaduct and will create a flexible space for the market square that gives market traders a bright, sheltered trading space and can also be used for hosting outdoor events.
Shawton Engineering is a £15m-turonover business that employs around 100 people locally, including eight apprentices, at its large, dedicated facility on the Sankey Valley Industrial Estate.
It is one of the few fabrication businesses that can undertake highly complex fabrication tasks and deliver products that meet stringent industry standards. Projects it has worked on include the Tower of Light in Manchester and Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium.
Lee Critchley, construction director of Shawton who began his career as an apprentice with the firm 20 years ago, said: “It’s nice for us to be involved in such a local project.
“We work all over the country but we can literally walk over to Earlestown and see how the project is progressing.”
He added: “We advocate for apprentices; we currently have eight within the business at different stages of their career and approximately 50% of those have worked on the project directly on the shop floor.
“As local apprentices, it’s great for them to be a part of it and to see not just the start, but the end of the project, with the site literally only being across the road from the office or their houses.”
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Earlstown’s regeneration is being delivered by St Helens Council and ECF – a partnership between Homes England, L&G and Muse – backed by £20m from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund and £8m match funding from the council.
It aims to revitalise Earlstown’s centre by restoring and modernising the town hall and improving the Market Square together with the wider public realm.