A Breath of Fresh Air

TSL Projects is fast becoming the premier company in the design and build of facilities in the high care food, pharmaceutical and high tech manufacturing industries.

The business was set up 10 years ago by Jackie Wild and Michael McDonnell with the sole aim of providing a first class service to the Food Industry. From these beginnings the business has steadily grown and moved into other related high care industries were the skills developed in fast track food projects have been well received.

TSL Projects is part of the Tonroe Group and in conjunction with its sister company Tonroe Steel they offer a turnkey service from design through to construction and commissioning. The unique structure of the business has been developed over time to bring in-house all the major elements of risk which cause delay, quality or cost issues on a project.

By controlling these tasks with their own people they have managed to offer a stress-free professional service to their clients, often described as a ‘breath of fresh air’ in a sector than can sometimes be the root cause of a great deal of frustration to food businesses that have budgets to hit and deadlines to meet in order to deliver their projects in a fiercely competitive market.

The group employs over 100 people with the design team being based at the Newcastle office and the steel fabrication, stripout, groundworks and carpenters being based in their 31,600ft2 fabrication workshop in Manchester. The TSL Projects construction management team operates from the head office in Maidenhead.

Their success has been built on six simple principles:

• Good Design, Fit for Purpose – agreed with the client prior to commencing work

• Control of Risk – the strip out, groundwork’s and steel ‘the dirty end of the project’ is carried out with their own team,

• Consistent Quality – close relationships with subcontract partners

• Speed of Construction – excellent planning and delivery leads to 30% shorter programmes than industry standard

• Value for Money – open working relationships with their clients ensures the money is spent where its needed and not squandered through the process.

• Health, Safety and the Environment – the adherence to good, safe practice through the project is at the heart of every activity.

This formula has proved very successful and has led to record growth. Jackie Wild, Managing Director, comments “what is encouraging about our growth is that it is coming largely from repeat business with major clients such as Reckitt Benckiser, GSK, TMI Foods, EPC and Convatec, who are regularly coming to us to collaborate on helping prepare budgets through to managing construction projects and equipment/production line moves. Over time the word has spread in the industry about our approach which has then lead to new clients choosing to work with TSL Projects.”

TSL Projects work all over the country and handle projects ranging from £50k small refurbishments through to a total turnkey service such as Jersey Dairy which was a Greenfield development designed and built by the TSL Projects Team and opened last September by HRH Princess Anne.

When asked to summarise the key to their ongoing success Jackie Wild commented: “It’s really simple – our team is totally committed to making working on a project an enjoyable and rewarding time for our clients with a predictable outcome on timing, quality and cost. We are really open and honest and always deliver what we say we will – this gives our clients a high level of confidence in completing projects, which they have seldom had prior to working with us.”