Bombardier - Flying High
22 December 2009

John Sisk & Son Ltd, Northern Ireland, were recently awarded a contract for the construction of the new facility for Bombardier for manufacturing a portion of the wings of their new C-Series plane. This project was won in the face of stiff competition. Great credit is due to all the team members from Sisk who were involved in the wining of this prestigious project.

Bombardier is a global transportation company present in more than 60 countries on 5 continents. They operate 2 industrial-leading businesses; aerospace and rail transportation, employing 66,900 employees worldwide. Their headquarters is located in Montreal, Canada and its shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Bombardier Aerospace, Belfast, who is the client for this project, employs 5,000 people in Northern Ireland and is the largest private employer in the Province.

Sisk was awarded the enabling project for the plant in May 2009. This consisted of the driving of 2,400 piles, importation of 70,000m3 fill and the pouring of approximately 7,000m3 of concrete.

The main project consists of the construction of a plant of 27,000m2 including 13,500m2 of clean room and associated plant rooms and ancillary civil works. The programme duration is 10 months commencing in October 2009 and will employ 500-600 people at peak. The overall value of the project is in excess of £45 million.

Sisk entered the Northern Ireland market based on the belief that it had a number of strategic advantages which would help it to establish a base there, such as its current size of operation in the Republic, a flexible and co-operative culture, wide experience of delivering projects in all sectors, its financial strength and a number of existing synergies with design practices and sub-contractors in the Province.
(The supply chain for all projects carried out to date has been sourced from within the Province)

The success of this strategy has been proven by the client base which Sisk has established in Northern Ireland since opening offices there in January 2008. This client base now includes Belfast Harbour Commissioners, the CPD (Central Procurement Directorate), Clarke Energy, Benmore Developments, MAR Property and now Bombardier.