Nissan Motor Manufacturing
Nissan Motor Manufacturing UK’s manufacturing plant in Sunderland is the UK’s most productive car plant, producing 500,000 cars each year.
Desco has developed a close working relationship with Nissan UK since our first appointment, as part of a design and build team, to deliver the company’s new lithium-ion battery production plant – one of the world’s first facilities of its type, which featured some innovative designs and ground-breaking systems.
New Battery Plant
Desco delivered the M&E services design and consultancy on the new multi-million-pound facility in the UK, built to mass produce batteries for use in electric vehicles.
The 25,500m2 plant, created on the company’s Sunderland motor manufacturing site, houses the production process for advanced lithium-ion batteries – to be used in the manufacture of ultra-low carbon, electric vehicles for both Nissan and its Alliance partner Renault.
The new facility – one of the first of its type in the world – requires a very close controlled environment for the production of the battery power cells. The development includes one of the largest clean room facilities in Europe, ageing ovens, charging, assembly, inspection and packing areas – the designs for which included ground-breaking concepts for environmental parameters associated with dew point and temperature control.
The solutions Desco developed for the Sunderland battery production plant are considered cutting edge, as it is one of the first plants of its type in the world. This knowledge and expertise led to the practice also being appointed in an advisory capacity for the company’s new battery production facility in Cacia, Portugal – the firm’s second facility of its type.
We subsequently received an appointment to deliver consultancy services for a further facility located in France for Nissan’s alliance partner Renault.
Body and Trim Shop Extensions
Since our work with Nissan on the battery plant facilities, we have delivered a number of further major projects for the firm across its Sunderland site, including the detailed design of the mechanical and electrical services installations for major extensions to the existing body shop and trim and chassis, at the car plant in Sunderland to facilitate the production of the Infiniti range of luxury vehicles.
On behalf of the contractor’s team on this project, we developed all of the engineering services designs into a full BIM model using Revit MEP software. The coordinated model with clash detection brings added value to the project, by enabling the client to visualise the engineering systems in 3D. This supplementary appointment arose following our success in undertaking a similar role on the battery plant project.
Ongoing Relationship
Desco’s relationship with Nissan has also involved a variety of smaller works, including infrastructure, upgrade and improvement works, and continues with our most recent appointments to design a new press shop and an EU emissions compliant paint facility on the Sunderland site.
Project
Nissan Motor Manufacturing
Location
Sunderland