The facility will be among the first major developments in the Lancashire Enterprise Zone that sits alongside BAE Systems’ advanced manufacturing facility where it employs more than 4,000 people.

The project will involve the design and construction of a new build distribution warehouse and an office pod, operated by Wincanton, BAE Systems’ logistics contractor.

The warehouse forms the first stage of a wider development adjacent to the airfield, and will involve extensive earthworks to prepare the site.

It is one of five £10m-plus live projects for Pochin’s, including works for TJ Morris in Liverpool and at Trafford Point in Manchester.

Jim Nicholson, CEO of Pochin’s, said:  “We’re hugely proud to have secured yet another £10m contract, for one of the world’s largest defence contractors and one of the region’s biggest employers.

“The site at Samlesbury Aerodrome has huge historical importance – it has been central to advances in aeronautical engineering since the 1920s, and this project will cement its future as a centre of innovation in the sector.”