Rolls to invest £300m in new sites

Rolls-Royce is trying to fend off the loss of a major engines deal

Rolls-Royce has announced plans to invest £300 million in four new UK manufacturing sites, creating or securing 800 jobs.

The move by Rolls was announced as the Government launched a £150 million package aimed at helping manufacturers take advantage of new technologies, especially in the aerospace industry.

Rolls-Royce will receive £45 million in Government assistance towards the new manufacturing plants, which will support anticipated growth in aerospace and in the nuclear power supply chain.

The expansion includes an additional facility at Barnoldswick, Lancashire, for the production of wide-chord fan blades for the Joint Strike Aircraft.

The site is already involved in the production of fan blades for commercial aircraft.

Locations for the other sites have not been disclosed, but Rolls said it planned a new casting facility for turbine blades, a site for the production of discs used in fans, compressors and turbines and a new factory to manufacture, assemble and test parts for new nuclear power stations.

Rolls, which employs 23,000 people in the UK, also announced two research programmes which will focus on technologies to reduce CO2 emissions of future aircraft programmes and accelerate new manufacturing methods.

The Government's package of measures - announced by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson - also covers investments in plastic electronics and silicon design.

Projects include a £12 million expansion of the Printable Electronics Centre in Sedgefield, County Durham, a centre which focuses on display technology.

The move could create up to 1,500 jobs by 2014.