IT IS four years since BAE Systems started out on the long road to transforming its Samlesbury site into a state-of-the-art facility that could support its growing order book.

As the development nears completion, we spoke to the company’s construction chief Nigel Aspin about new buildings, their environmental impact...and even great crested newts.

A LOT has changed in Samlesbury since an aerodrome first opened there back in April 1939.

The past 70 years have seen numerous changes to the village’s industrial footprint and, in some respects, a slow shift away from the prominence of its farming fields in favour of its airfield.

While Samlesbury still has a proud farming heritage, one it will undoubtedly never lose, it is the aerospace endeavours in the form of BAE Systems which are now drawing international attention.

Much of the growth has been on the back of contracts with air forces around the world for fighter jets such as the Typhoon and the new F-35 Lightning II striker jet. The US, Saudi Arabia and many others have come on board with BAE Systems, with Samlesbury playing a key role in manufacturing many of the components for these aircraft.

And while aerospace technology may have advanced in the past 70-years there are stark similarities between now and almost 70 years ago, the main one being that now, as then, the UK and US were at war.

The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have made the need for fighter jets more pressing than ever and have fuelled the expansion at Samlesbury and changed the shape of the area’s industrial landscape in the process.

If you drive down the mercifully congestion-free A59 and turn through the new traffic lights into the entrance at BAE Systems, the first evidence of this change is two massive office blocks which loom large over the site and will house up to 1,400 people between them when they are up and running in coming months.

In the foreground stands another new addition – a specially designed reception area that looks like something out of a sci-fi film. All angles, sheet metal and jutting girders, it is a strikingly modernist reminder that you are entering a hi-tech site.

“It brings us into the right century,” says Nigel Aspin, head of investment, planning and delivery at the aerospace site. “It’s a statement of intent.

“To me its representative of the products we manufacture. We are a hi-tech organisation and this is our shop front and it’s our signature building for the site.

“It is quite a futuristic building and shows what we are doing in terms of future products.”

What the angular reception area and glass fronted office buildings allude to is that figures banded around by BAE chiefs in terms of investment at Samlesbury - £800m over the next decade - are not merely hollow promises.

The site currently employs 4,500 people which will rise by around 1,000 when the offices and new F-35 production sheds are up and running.

The knock-on effect for East Lancashire is that work at BAE Systems supports a supply chain of businesses throughout the area, so growth at Samlesbury is good for a range of firms.

For Mr Aspin, a Darwen man born and bred and former pupil of Darwen Moorland high school, one of the major challenges about managing the construction projects was dealing with so many external agencies.

He said: “I have a team that work for me and I am responsible for capital investment on the site, whether that’s tools for manufacturing or major development of the office and industrial facilities.

“The construction started in November 2007. One of the office will hold 650 and the other 700 and one will house F-35 staff and other customer support for the Saudi contracts (CSandS international).”

Work has already started on the F35 machining shop which should be completed in February next year. Plans are currently being finalised to start extensions to the fabrications shed which could start next year.

Mr Aspin said, who started at the company in 1986 as a graduate working in procurement, added: “The sheer volume of the investment we have been dealing with and the pace of it have been a real challenge.

“We have been dealing with archaeological surveyors, ecological surveyors, infrastructure designers, Lancashire County Council for the external road works. Its been tough.”

The road works have been one of the most trying aspects for local people to contend with during the whole process. Part of a planning agreement secured from Ribble Valley and South Ribble Councils meant that BAE would have to transform the A59 as it moved the entrance closer to Mellor and redevelop the Swallow hotel junction on the Preston side.

But Mr Aspin is confident the company dealt with this upheaval in the best way possible.

He said: “Throughout the 26-week construction process on the road I could count on one hand how many complaints I’ve had about traffic problems. The new entrance has been shut off completely and will be fenced off.”

During the whole construction process, however, it was one of the smallest things on site that almost proved to be the biggest headache for the firm and that was great crested newts.

The company had to carry out a full search for the endangered creatures and almost missed the time slot in which to do it.

He added: “The situation with the newts was bad timing really. We had to apply to English Nature to trap them. We were running up to winter when we couldn’t trap them and there was a danger it could have been delayed by six months. We have now created a habitat for them at another end of the site.

“We had to have a full ecological survey around Lapwing nesting as well.”

And he said the firm’s environmental commitment did not end there.

Mr Aspin said: “We have also developed a grand travel plan. All the facilities we are providing such as showers and changing rooms are enabling people to cycle into work and cut down our carbon footprint.

“We have been looking at car sharing and have had over 700 people take up or show interest in the car share scheme which is really positive.”