Thurston Group to build 1,250 sq m Engineered Solutions facility at Ottringham

Thurston Group has started groundworks on a multi-million-pound Engineered Solutions facility at its Ottringham site in East Yorkshire, which the modular manufacturer said will raise its specialist output capability by 158% and create 55 jobs.

The 1,250 sq m purpose-built facility will make blast-resistant buildings, toxic refuges, equipment and control housings, battery and electrolyser enclosures and bespoke containerised solutions, the company said. The products serve the energy, hydrogen, oil and gas, data centre, utilities, rail and defence sectors.

Groundworks began on 1 October 2026 and Thurston expects the facility to be operational in the first half of 2027. The investment is backed by the company's owner, GCH Corporation.

Matt Goff, group managing director for Thurston Group, said: "Demand for this work is increasing rapidly, particularly across areas such as hydrogen, offshore energy and equipment housings."

The facility

Thurston said the building will include dedicated fabrication with overhead lifting capability, a specialist shot blast booth, controlled paint finishing and a final inspection bay. It builds on the company's existing Bureau Veritas, CSC and Lloyd's Register accreditations.

Goff said the facility would give the business a dedicated environment to run specialist, lower-volume production alongside its higher-volume manufacturing.

The company described the project as a step towards developing Ottringham into an operation able to support more than £40m of annual output.

Cassie Hutchings, founder and CEO at GCH Corporation, said: "Our continued investment reflects our long-term commitment to the business and our confidence in where it is heading."

The administration and sale

The investment comes less than a year after the Thurston business changed hands through an administration. Hilary Pascoe, Andrew Poxon and Mike Dillon of Leonard Curtis were appointed joint administrators of Thurston Holdings Limited, Thurston Group Estates Limited and Thurston Group Limited on 22 December 2025, according to the administrators.

Leonard Curtis said the group employed 275 people at the time and that the sale to GCH Corporation Ltd protected over 200 jobs. The administrators said the main trading business, Thurston Group Limited, was established in December 1970.

Companies House records show the original Thurston Group Limited, company number 00998540, is in administration and now named TGL Realisations 2025 Limited, having carried the Thurston Group Limited name from 18 October 1993 to 5 January 2026. A new Thurston Group Limited, company number 16640239, was incorporated on 11 August 2025 as Hamsard 3822 Limited, took its current name on 8 January 2026 and is registered at Quarry Hill Industrial Estate, Horbury, Wakefield.

Headcount figures differ by source. In March 2025, before the administration, Thurston said it employed about 350 people across three sites in East and West Yorkshire. Its announcement that month of the Storplan acquisition said the combined businesses served over 100 clients with combined turnover exceeding £60m.

GCH, which says its group comprises 13 businesses, describes Thurston on its website as one of the UK's most established modular building manufacturers with more than five decades in Yorkshire.

Earlier investment

The Ottringham scheme is separate from a six-figure investment in a Combilift multidirectional straddle carrier at Thurston's Wakefield site. Goff said of that investment that, with GCH Corporation's backing, the company was continuing to invest in practical improvements.

Thurston expects the Ottringham facility to be operational in the first half of 2027.