Bowmer & Kirkland apply for major upgrade of Derbyshire headquarters

A construction and engineering company based in a Derbyshire village wants to upgrade its 1980s headquarters to cement its future for 40 years and secure 180 jobs. Bowmer & Kirkland, based at High Edge Court in Church Street, Heage, wants to demolish large sections of its current headquarters and replace them with new, modern buildings.

This would include offices, a training area, a cafe, outdoor seating, numerous kitchenettes, solar panels on the roof, an electricity substation and an emergency generator. A decision will be made by Amber Valley Borough Council in the next few months.

The firm, which had revenue of £1.24 billion as of August 2023 and profits of £53.4 million, says the current 1988 offices are “outdated” and “would require substantial costs to refurbish and remodel if retained”. It says new offices would “be more attractive to staff, new starters and visitors” and would be more energy efficient.

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The firm says retaining some of the existing headquarters would minimise disruption. It says the existing “building one”, which would be demolished, contains 3,230 square metres of floor space while the new building would contain 3,698 square metres.

The new building would be two storeys tall and connect to the retained offices via a glazed link structure. A total of 180 full-time equivalent staff are employed on the site – 160 full-time and 40 part-time – with all roles to be retained as part of the plans.

There are 200 parking spaces on-site, including 18 electric vehicle charging stations, which would be retained, with the number of disabled spaces increasing from five to 11 and 40 cycle storage spaces to be added. The firm intends to start work on the new build in July 2025 and complete it by December 2026 while demolition of one of the existing buildings would start in April 2027 and be complete by October 2027, with the entire project to be completed by June 2028.

A statement submitted by the firm writes: “The proposal will deliver replacement office space for Bowmer and Kirkland at its existing headquarters at Heage. Modern office space for existing staff will deliver an upgraded working environment with collaboration space and welfare areas.

“The proposal will not increase the level of employment on the site, it is purely to provide an office environment upgrade. As a consequence, there is no change to the existing traffic flows.

"Car parking will remain broadly the same although the applicant is taking the opportunity to upgrade parking, car sharing, disabled spaces, electric vehicle charging points and cycle parking. We hope that the council can support this application which will deliver real economic growth in the borough.

“The aim is to provide offices that will be more attractive to staff, new starters and visitors and to create a modern working environment to encourage greater interaction and wellbeing in the workplace. In addition, the reconstruction of the campus will contribute significantly to B+K’s ‘Zero by 40’ initiative, by which they are committed to a 50 per cent reduction in carbon footprint by 2030, and achieving net-zero carbon by 2040.”

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