THE multi-million pound home of Olympian Sir Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup racing team is among the latest projects fuelling the growth of a long-standing Poole company.

T.A. Colbourne is a specialist construction focused on building ‘envelopes’ – everything on the outside.

It was picked to build the steel structure and shell of the Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) headquarters in Portsmouth.

As well as being the UK base for the team’s efforts to bring America’s cup home, it will be the focal point for designing and building the team’s boats – with an apprenticeship and training scheme and a drive to encourage more participation in the sport.

It was a prestigious contract for T.A. Colbourne, founded more than 30 years ago by owner Tom Colbourne.

He said: “That was a project that was first mooted in the middle of last year and we were called on because they knew that we were a specialist team that could produce the building and deliver the build in a very short space of time.

“For a project that would normally take two years, we put the first bit of steel in the ground in October last year and the Land Rover BAR team moved in at the end of May.

“At that time we delivered to them a 75,000sqft building.”

The project, under management contractor Allied Developments and fit-out contractor Overbury, involved 700 tonnes of steel.

The HQ was praised by David Cameron, who said: “It will not only build on Portsmouth’s global reputation as a centre of marine and maritime excellence but will also deliver a real sporting and economic boost to the UK.”

Sir Ben Ainslie, the four-time Olympic gold medallist from Lymington, said: “We hope through our journey to bring the Cup home to Britain we will inspire more young people to get involved in the sport, along with supporting the growth of the marine sector in the Solent area to match the country’s F1 innovation hub.”

Mr Colbourne said the scheme’s quick turnaround was made possible by teamwork among his people, including project manager Tim Bench and design manager Steve Reed, and close collaboration with HGP Architects.

Mr Colbourne, who came to Poole in 1972, has been involved with a host of the area’s best-known buildings, either building or refurbishing structures such as Branksome Business Park, Link House, Dorset Glass and Bournemouth’s Mallard Road retail park.

“We were responsible for the original RNLI building, the survival centre,” he said.

“More recently we were pleased to go back and complete the college and the new all-weather lifeboat station.”

Other recent projects include the Next superstore at Hedge End near Southampton. “That was the flagship store for their rollout of out-of-town shopping centres,” said Mr Colbourne.

The company, which employs 10 people but draws on a host of local contractors, is set to turn over £10m this year, up from £6m last year. “We’ll do any size of jobs from £500 to £5m,” said Mr Colbourne.

He said too much of the industry was still plagued by “a blame and claim scenario”, with disputes built into the process as big companies sought to maximise profit margins.

“The construction industry in my opinion has improved a lot over the last couple of decades but it doesn’t do enough to encourage the teamwork and collaboration,” he said.

“We employ well proven subcontractors for each trade and people that you can collaborate and work with.

“We get more enquiries from all over the world than we can handle because of our reputation in the industry.”