Groundworks have begun on a £40 million manufacturing and design facility for Moog Controls Ltd in Tewkesbury. The 184,000ft² centre of excellence for Moog’s aircraft controls operation is being built at Ashchurch on a 10-acre site. The facility will be a carbon neutral building, designed to a BREEAM excellent EPC A+ standard. It is expected to be operational in 2023.

West Midlands development and investment company Barberry Industrial, which acquired the site from Sainsburys, has agreed a 35-year lease with Moog with main contractor Readie Construction appointed to deliver the £28 million construction contract.

Moog general manager Mark Lawton said: "The team is delighted to be moving to the construction phase of the project and we look forward to working with Barberry in the months and years to come."

Construction of the carbon neutral facility is scheduled to be complete in April 2022 with the centre of excellence, which will incorporate engineering and administration offices, expected to be operational in 2023.

Barberry development director Jon Robinson said: “It is fantastic to see work finally start on site so we can move forward. To have reached this stage so soon is testament to all the hard work and effort put in by our professional team.

“We are excited to be delivering a ‘state of the art’ factory and extremely proud to have led the way on what will be one of the few carbon neutral manufacturing facilities in the UK.”

Based in the town for more than 40 years, Moog‘s aircraft controls operation in Tewkesbury is the global centre of excellence for design of servo valves and houses a large engineering division.