RNJ lands £15m new contracts

Sep 28 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

CONSTRUCTION consultant RNJ has landed £15m worth of new contracts to work on the building of new retirement homes across the North.

The Newcastle company has been appointed by the specialist retirement property provider Golden Living to work on five of its new developments.

The developments are in Nunthorpe in Middlesbrough, Brigg in North Lincolnshire, Cottingham in Northamptonshire, Howden in East Yorkshire and Haltwhistle in Northumberland and form part of a number of projects to help meet the growing demand for retirement properties in suburban areas.

The first scheme comprises a retirement village of 57 new apartments with communal facilities at Guisborough Road, Nunthorpe, and is due to be completed in June 2008.

Forthcoming projects include 54 new apartments at Brigg, 47 apartments in Howden, 43 apartments in Cottingham and 56 apartments in Haltwhistle.

Expanding on its approach to offer clients a multi-disciplinary service, RNJ will be acting as employers’ agents, quantity surveyors, CDM (Construction Design and Management) co-ordinators and clerk of works on all schemes, and party wall surveyor where required.

John Gibson, partner at RNJ, said: “This project sees RNJ continue to raise its presence across the North and adds to our wide experience in specialist bespoke housing contracts. We’re proud to be associated with such important schemes and look forward to creating this much-needed high quality purpose- built housing for our retiring generation.”

Trevor Walters Thompson, managing director at Golden Living, said: “With RNJ as part of our project team, we aim to ensure the needs of the older generation are met, and we’re confident that the team we’ve appointed will deliver these initiatives successfully.”

Alongside RNJ, the project team at Nunthorpe includes York-based architects Jenesson Associates and structural engineers HBL Associates from Bury, together with contractor Howard Russell Construction Limited, from Newcastle.

The same team of consultants are joined by Strata Construction Limited, from Doncaster, for the development at Brigg where work began on site in July 2007.

It is just one of a broad range of contracts won by the company. It was recently appointed cost consultant on the £6m renovation of the National Trust’s Nostell Priory near Wakefield, back to its 18th Century splendour.

And in the summer it won a deal to extend the Ailantus Hotels Group’s George Washington Golf and Country Club at Usworth, Washington.