Commercial interior fit-out specialists, Beacons Business Interiors (Bbi), has completed the final elements of a £3m project to fit out Dwr Cymru Welsh Water's new £10.4m water testing facility at Cleppa Park in Newport.

The Brecon-based company won the design and build contract to convert the 25,000 sq ft building from a former HSBC call centre into a new laboratory with office space for around 50 members of staff. It also designed and built a contemporary new exterior to replace the existing 1980s industrial façade, increasing the building’s level of insulation, and bringing it up to current standards.

The facility, known as Glaslyn, will allow Dwr Cymru Welsh Water to carry out around 300,000 analyses of drinking water samples every year. The tests are used to verify the quality of drinking water supplied by the company to three million customers across Wales and Herefordshire.

Bbi has already received national recognition for its work, picking up Gold in the Interior Fit-Out category at the 2013 Association of Interior Specialists (AIS) Contractors Awards.

The awards, which are designed to help promote high levels of craftsmanship and design, are presented to AIS members who have delivered outstanding projects of exceptional quality and value.

Bbi worked closely with the team at D?r Cymru Welsh Water to ensure that the specialist conditions needed for laboratory facilities were met. Time was an important factor in the project and major decisions such as the layout of corridors, and location of labs and offices, had to be taken around the internal structural work taking place. In addition, Bbi was also tasked to furnish the entire building, making it suitable for a flexible working environment, and completed the project in just 16 weeks.

The work to the building’s exterior, which was designed to reflect the high technology interior, was completed in just eight weeks, in time for the official opening.

Steve Lesbirel from Bbi said: “This project provided a real challenge for the Bbi team – we had to rebuild both the interior and exterior of the building, furnish it, and ensure that it was suitable to meet very specific laboratory conditions to very rigid deadlines.”

The AIS judges commented that Bbi’s work was: “A true demonstration of how effective design and implementation can revitalise a building and can deliver an effective business solution.”

Laboratory services are a vital function for D?r Cymru Welsh Water which carries out around 300,000 wide-ranging analyses of drinking water samples every year to ensure the highest possible quality for its three million customers. Previously, this work was contracted out but is now undertaken at D?r Cymru Welsh Water laboratories in Newport, and also Bretton in North Wales.

Paul Woodbridge from Dwr Cymru Welsh Water said: “The quality of the craftsmanship and design from Bbi have helped to create a fantastic working environment that is perfectly suited to deliver high quality analysis across all disciplines.

“Our staff are very positive about their new working environment, and this view has also been expressed by some of our key laboratory partners who have told us it is one of the best laboratories they have ever seen.”