News: Rolls-Royce part of multi million pound investment in Rotherham

Rolls-Royce is to make a multi million pound investment in Rotherham as part of the UK Government's civil nuclear package.



The Business Secretary Lord Mandelson was in Rotherham to outline how the package will provide real help for UK-based companies to become an integral part of the domestic nuclear sector and to compete for a share of the expanding global market for civil nuclear power.

As part of the package The Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham has been chosen as the base for the UK's new £25m Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (NAMRC).

The NAMRC will provide a focal point for the bulk of the UK civil nuclear manufacturing industry supply chain, ensuring that manufacturers in the UK have the capability and capacity required to compete for nuclear new build in the UK and globally, from skills training to research and development.

Funding for the project includes £15m from the Department of Business, Industry and Skills and Yorkshire Forward is investing up to £10m in the new centre which will be led by the University of Sheffield in partnership with the University of Manchester with Rolls- Royce as a lead industrial partner.

In a further boost to the region's manufacturing strength, Lord Mandelson announced that Rolls-Royce's planned civil nuclear facility will also be developed in South Yorkshire.

The facility will manufacture, assemble and test high quality components that are essential to meet the requirements of the planned new civil nuclear power plants across the UK, worth in excess of £1bn a year. This investment will create more than 300 jobs, with hundreds more expected to be made throughout industry supply chains, across the region.

Lord Mandelson said:"The civil nuclear sector is one of the key low carbon industries where the UK has the potential for job creation, economic growth and engineering and manufacturing excellence. Today's announcement is about investing in our future. A greener, smarter, more skilled, more balanced British economy."

When the NAMRC was announced in July, Lawrie Haynes, President of Rolls-Royce Nuclear, said: "We are very pleased to be leading the development of this Centre. The global "nuclear renaissance" presents a real opportunity for the UK to revitalise its manufacturing capability. The Centre will enable the UK to develop new capabilities, not only to address its own civil nuclear programme but also to compete more effectively in international markets."

Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Forward comments: "Yorkshire Forward has worked closely with Rolls-Royce and the Government to secure both investments and this announcement is incredible news for a part of our region hit hard by the recession. It recognises the cutting edge facilities and the top quality of our academic and business skills base.

"This cements our position as a centre of excellence for manufacturing, to a global marketplace, securing and creating jobs now and in the future."

The Leader of Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, Cllr Roger Stone, said: "Rolls-Royce is the best in the world at what it does. In choosing The AMP in Rotherham for its Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, it has chosen a location that is among the best in the world, with other world-leading companies already here and across South Yorkshire.

"Rolls-Royce is already partnering The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre with Boeing, also at the Park, so this news, and the news that Rolls is to create a civil nuclear manufacturing facility in South Yorkshire, is further testimony to what the area offers.


"This is the future. It has massive implications for the UK economy. At a local level, as well as new high-quality jobs, we believe it will galvanise our young people into strengthening their skills and ambitions to be, like Rolls-Royce, world-class players."

Professor Keith Ridgway, Programme Director for the NAMRC and founder of the original Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre: "The mantra developed for the aerospace industry of "better, faster, cheaper" greener is equally applicable to the resurgent nuclear supply industry.


"We are confident that the success of the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre which has worked so closely with global aerospace companies such as Boeing and Rolls-Royce can be translated into the nuclear industry which is so crucial to our energy sustainability."

AMP website
Rolls-Royce website
BIS website
Rotherham

Images: rolls-royce.com / shef.ac.uk