Ambrey Baker has secured £5 million from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II to expand its workforce and increase capacity across an industrial projects business working in food and drink, cold storage, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and defence.
The Sleaford company handles work from feasibility and design through construction, refurbishment, decommissioning and relocation, with many projects carried out inside factories that remain operational. Mercia Ventures provided the investment after Ambrey Baker more than doubled revenue over three years, while the business says it has completed more than 200 projects during the past two years and is targeting another 50% increase in revenue during the current financial year.
Construction inside an operating factory has to fit around production systems that may already be using the same structure, utilities and access routes needed by the project team. Moving a wall, extending a production area or installing equipment can alter drainage, electrical distribution, compressed air, ventilation, fire protection, material flow and maintenance access, while neighbouring lines continue to run.
Food and pharmaceutical plants introduce additional controls because work may take place beside areas governed by cleaning regimes, contamination controls, temperature requirements and documented production procedures. Temporary partitions, alternative access routes and carefully timed shutdowns can become necessary before contractors are able to modify services or structures without interfering with the manufacturing process around them.
Projects of this scale can fall below the threshold normally favoured by the largest national contractors while still requiring multidisciplinary engineering and detailed coordination. Ambrey Baker has concentrated on that part of the market, where an apparently modest factory modification can involve structural work, utilities, specialist finishes and process equipment within a limited programme window.
Recent work includes a production hub in Telford for natural pet food manufacturer Different Dog and the conversion of a Leicester warehouse into a food production facility for Samworth Brothers, while its wider customer base includes 2 Sisters Food Group, Warburton’s and Ginsters. The common requirement is to connect building changes with the processes that eventually occupy the space, rather than treating construction and production equipment as separate projects.
A warehouse conversion can require floor strengthening, power upgrades, ventilation, refrigeration, compressed air, drainage, hygienic finishes and fire protection before production machinery is installed, with each system affecting the final layout. Where an older industrial building has been modified repeatedly, historic drawings may no longer show services and structural elements accurately, making survey work essential before detailed design is fixed.
Discovering an undocumented service route or inadequate floor loading after equipment has been ordered can change both cost and programme, particularly when the factory has limited shutdown periods available. Feasibility and survey work reduce that risk by establishing the constraints before machinery, building work and production schedules have been committed to a final layout.
The £5 million investment will support recruitment across a business that currently employs around 70 permanent staff, but increasing project volume requires design, project management, commercial control and specialist engineering to grow alongside site labour. Additional contracts can quickly stretch an organisation when the number of projects rises faster than its ability to check designs, supervise work and manage programme changes.
Mercia became a significant shareholder during 2026, linking the latest funding with the longer development of the company rather than a single factory contract. Ambrey Baker was founded in 1988 by Reg Baker and is now led by Baker alongside director Paul Waldeck, giving the investment an established operating business to expand rather than a new project organisation to build from scratch.
Existing industrial buildings remain attractive to manufacturers because utilities, logistics routes and production links are already in place, although brownfield development brings restricted space, ageing infrastructure and legacy systems into every design decision. Expanding a working site can reach production more quickly than building a new factory, but only when those constraints are identified early enough to prevent them emerging during installation.
Ambrey Baker’s recent revenue growth indicates that demand for this work has been strong, while another 50% increase would place additional pressure on recruitment and project control. Engineering businesses can increase turnover quickly when orders are available, but usable capacity only rises when the teams responsible for design, supervision and commercial management grow at a similar rate.
The new capital gives Ambrey Baker room to add those people as its order book expands, with the effect likely to show in the number and scale of projects it can run concurrently without weakening control over work inside operating factories. Recruitment, project delivery and the company’s ability to maintain programme discipline will determine how much additional capacity the £5 million investment ultimately creates.
