Well, the first quarter of 2023 is done and there is no let-up in the amount of Good News stories out there surround UK manufacturing and significant amounts of investment being made.
Although there is a lot of doom and gloom in the mainstream media, you don’t have to look hard to find positives regarding our engineering and manufacturing sectors.
The UK has a proud heritage of leading innovation, engineering expertise, can- do attitude, which make everything we all generally take for granted possible.
Great Britain is exactly that – Great and we should all shout this out from on high! Whether it’s defence or medical, aerospace or automotive, there’s so much to feel positive about.
Please feel free to share these stories and news articles from recent months and keep pushing to get the message out there loud and clear – UK Manufacturing is Great, Britain is Great!
Bentley invests £2.5 billion to build Crewe ‘Dream Factory’ for 2025 EV
Bentley has revealed plans to invest £2.5 billion into the manufacturing of electric vehicles and a target of net–carbon neutrality by 2030. The investment will be used to renovate the Crewe production facility and produce its future electric models, the first of which is due in 2025. Bentley currently employs 4,000 people at its Crewe plant, which will be developed into a ‘Dream Factory’ thanks to the investment. Certain processes will be digitised, more personalisation options will be offered to customers and sustainability on the shop floor and within the cars will be improved. The site is already carbon neutral, but now aims for net–zero environmental impact by 2030.
Green light for Essity paper recycling plant in Prudhoe
Building work has started on one of the UK’s most advanced wastepaper recycling plants after Essity Prudhoe Mill was given the green light by planners.
Northumberland County Council granted planning permission late last year for the multi–million pound scheme – which is the Swedish tissue giant’s single biggest investment across any of its six UK sites in the last ten years.
The company will replace its existing 50–year–old recycling plant with a new facility housing the latest in paper–recycling technology – reducing energy costs and increasing its ability to make household products from recycled fibre. Supermarkets and green consumers have long–demanded the use of recycled paper in toilet rolls and paper towels – with most recycled pulp traditionally being made from office wastepaper. Availability dropped significantly as companies moved away from printers and photocopiers in favour of email – a trend accelerated by more people working from home post–Covid. But the new state–of–the–art plant will enable Essity to recycle alternative sources of more widely available, lower–grade waste material.
British industry will build 15 percent by value of each of the 3,000–plus planned F–35s
Creating and sustaining more than 20,000 jobs across the UK. From the Martin–Baker ejection seat to the Cobham refuelling probe and BAE Systems–built
horizontal tails, every F–35 has British parts incorporated from nose to tail. Ultra Electronics, Collins Aerospace and Rolls–Royce are just a few of the more than 100 UK–based suppliers. (Source: Lockheed Martin)
Aston Martin start work on new F1 factory and wind tunnel campus at Silverstone base
Billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s ambition to transform his Aston Martin squad into a world championship–contending Formula 1 team has received a shot in the arm, with construction having now begun on a fit–for–purpose new factory and campus that will ultimately host a brand–new wind tunnel and
simulator.
Stroll rebranded his Racing Point outfit, which he acquired in 2018, as Aston Martin ahead of this season with a striking green livery. It was the latest stage in his overhaul of the operation, which began life as Jordan in 1991. In order to become a major player in F1, Stroll believed the team’s Silverstone facility – which
has changed little since the Jordan days – needed a revolution. And so he bought land surrounding the current base and devised a three–building campus that he estimates will cost between £150 million and £200 million.
UK space sector income reaches £17.5 billion as jobs and services grow
The amount the UK space sector brings to the economy has grown by £1 billion, helping launch new business and create jobs across the country, according to new figures. Despite the global disruption caused by the COVID–19 pandemic, space organisations presented a robust picture, generating £17.5 billion in 2021, compared to £16.5 billion the previous year.
Figures in the latest Size & Health of the UK Space Industry report show the number of space organisations identified across the UK rose from 1,293 to 1,590, creating 1,772 jobs. The sector now employs just under 48,800 people and supports an estimated 126,800 UK jobs across the wider supply chain. Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Michelle Donelan, said: With the global space economy expanding rapidly, investing in UK our space capabilities can unlock new opportunities, bringing more jobs, skills and businesses to the UK. The government is committed to supporting this high–growth sector, boosting the UK’s reputation as a growing space power, and inspiring the next generation of professionals.
Rolls–Royce’s submarines division in Derby
Rolls–Royce’s submarines division in Derby currently employs more than 4,000 people and designs, manufactures and provides in–service support to the pressurised water reactors that power every boat in the Royal Navy’s submarine fleet. As part of the AUKUS trilateral agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, Rolls–Royce Submarines will provide reactors for Australia’s nuclear powered submarines which is expected to create thousands of direct and supply jobs across the UK. To support its rapidly expanding submarines business, Rolls–Royce is set to build a new 205,000 sq ft manufacturing and office facility at its Raynesway campus in Derby with almost 500 people expected to be based at the new facility when it opens.
The plans follow the opening of Rolls–Royce’s Nuclear Skills Academy at Infinity Park Derby, which is run in collaboration with the University of Derby to produce the nuclear engineers of the future.
That’s all for now, but don’t go anywhere! We’ve got more exciting content coming your way from Bruderer’s Good News Matters.
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