Rolls-Royce announces £300m UK factory plan

Engineering firm will open four new plants in Britain, creating or safeguarding 800 jobs, to develop aerospace technology and build parts for nuclear power stations
Graeme Wearden
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 28 July 2009 14.45 BST
Engineering firm Rolls-Royce has given Britain's industrial sector a much-needed fillip by announcing it will open four new factories in the UK, creating or saving 800 jobs.
The company is a major beneficiary of a government initiative to support cutting-edge industries such as aerospace and nuclear power.
Building the factories will cost Rolls-Royce £300m, with the government contributing £45m. Three of them will develop aerospace technologies. A fourth will assemble and test parts for new nuclear power stations. Sites for the four plants have not been disclosed, but they will all be in "assisted areas" – parts of the UK with high unemployment.
Sir John Rose, chief executive of Rolls-Royce, said the firm was making "significant investments in capability and research which reflect our commitment to continue to invest in the future of our business, even at this stage in the economic cycle."
The firm is also extending its plant in Barnoldswick, Lancashire, so that it can supply parts for the Lightning joint strike fighter – the F-35 single-engine aircraft that is meant to underpin America's future air defences.
In addition to the new factories, Rolls-Royce announced two new advanced research programmes, which will investigate ways of cutting CO2 emissions from aircraft and increasing fuel efficiency.
The £45m grant comes from the government's Building Britain's Future programme. The business secretary, Lord Mandelson, announced this morning that a total of £151.5m would be invested in British manufacturing.
"This practical package of measures will help equip British manufacturers of all sizes and sectors to take advantage of the advanced technologies and new market opportunities now shaping our low-carbon industrial future," said Mandelson.
Rose said he was "delighted" that the government was supporting the new factories.
Rolls-Royce said that the four plants would be built over the next five or six years, and would help the company fulfil its £55.5bn order book.
Rolls-Royce is also building a factory in Singapore to construct fan blades used in military and commercial aircraft engines. As with the UK factories, it will receive a government grant to help with the construction costs.
Other projects being supported by the government include a £12m expansion of the Printable Electronics Centre in Sedgefield, County Durham, which develops various display technologies. This could create 1,500 new jobs by 2014.