Cheetham Hill Construction Ltd (CHC) was founded in 1966 with offices in Bury, Lancashire.  During its first decade the Company was principally involved in water and sewerage works for the North West Water Authority and civil engineering works for local authorities and private clients in North West England. This laid the foundations for the civil engineering activities of the Company and also its historic association with the water industry.

During the 1980’s and early 1990’s the Company expanded its portfolio by adding work within quarries and on major earthworks projects to its services. These earthwork activities led the Company into the waste sector where it quickly gained an enviable track record in the construction of waste cells for many of the country's leading operators. This was the catalyst to its year on year acquisition of highly specialised plant and equipment, which now positions CHC as one of the leading heavy plant and equipment providers in the North of England.

From early 1990 up to 2000 CHC undertook and completed the phased re-development and ground improvement at Bury Football Club involving demolition, design and construction of the grandstands on all four sides of the ground. Throughout the 1990’s the geographic range of our activities was extended across the whole of the North of England and focused on local authority and blue chip clients.

In January 1993 the Company commenced a major programme of work for Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council known as the Doncaster Lakeside Project, which enabled the transformation of a municipal landfill site to a thriving business, residential and leisure area. The contracts with a total value of circa £8.7 million, were undertaken over a ten year period and ranged from reclamation of an existing landfill tip through to the construction of new infrastructure that included road bridges, ornamental bridges and the construction of the major water feature from which the development took its name.

From 1994 onwards CHC has undertaken work for a number of blue chip and private clients including UPM Kymmene (UK), The Peel Group, Tetrosyl, Matalan and TNT.

By the mid 1990’s the Company had identified that many of its clients were seeking integrated teams to provide not just the civil engineering element of the works but also the mechanical and electrical elements. North West Water (now United Utilities) in particular was seeking contractors whose expertise included mechanical and electrical design and installation, instrumentation, controls and automation (MEICA).

In 1999 CHC formed an alliance with a small specialist company, Simkiss Controls, to offer a fully integrated MEICA design and construction service. This alliance has grown and matured over the last decade undertaking numerous design and construct projects on many water and wastewater contracts for United Utilities including the Company's largest single value contract, the £14million Ribble HA Pipeline Project, which was awarded in 2004.

In 2001 CHC began to further enhance its service to both the water industry and private clients by forming alliances with selected civil engineering designers and has successfully completed  numerous design and construct projects ranging in value from £250,000 to £14million on a variety of water projects, including impounding reservoir improvements, WwTW improvements, UID’s, water pipelines and sewers. 

In early 2004 Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, awarded CHC a design and construct contract for the reclamation and regeneration of a former colliery site at Kiveton, South Yorkshire. This £7million NEC Option C Partnering Contract was the Company's highest value reclamation contract to be undertaken.

As workload and geographical spread increased CHC opened a regional office in Sheffield during 2005 and a further regional office in Scotland during 2009.

In 2009 and with 20 years of landfill experience, CHC was awarded a landfill and associated works framework with solid waste company WRG in the East Midlands and Scottish Regions and was also successful in securing a minor construction framework for the Environment Agency in North West Region within the same year.

In late 2009 the Company's portfolio of blue chip and private clients was enhanced by the award of the first of a number of packages for a major new recycled paper mill being built by Saica, the Spanish corrugated packaging company. The award of two further packages for this major enabling works design and construct contract has brought the value of works secured to date to circa £6.5 million, with a further package of circa £5million currently being negotiated.

In 2010 CHC secured a major contract with a national client for enabling works to a quarry extension located on the Morvern Peninsular in North West Scotland. This contract was a logistical challenge with no overland access to the site and consequently all personnel, plant, equipment and materials had to be transported by sea.

2010 and 2011 saw the commencement of the Water Company's AMP 5 Programme of Works and CHC secured several competitively bid contracts including a reservoir upgrade, UID and water and wastewater projects with United Utilities. The workload was also bolstered in 2010 with the award of a £1.4million Design & Construct Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC) in Skelmersdale.

2011 saw this theme progress with the award of a further HWRC at Kirkby in Merseyside. In this period CHC developed a relationship with major national retail contractors as a first tier supplier to undertake works on major supermarket developments including a prestige store at Ellesmere Port on the Wirral. Our services portfolio was further expanded, undertaking a ‘Balance of Plant’ contract for the Marr Wind Farm project in Yorkshire.

2011 and beyond are challenging times for the construction industry but the current recession makes CHC even more committed to underpin its in-house capabilities and services and build upon the Company's ethos and reputation within the industry with a view to achieving another successful 45 years of service Delivering Solutions.