Airbus is planning to set up a new design and engineering centre in the UK’s Midlands region within the next year.
EADS co-chief executive Noel Forgeard told the CBI manufacturing dinner in Birmingham last week that the company hopes to take advantage of the “pool of highly skilled systems engineers” in the area. Airbus UK managing director and general manager Iain Gray says he hopes the centre will be up and running “within six to 12 months”.
The site could initially employ around 100 engineers, he adds, although it is too early to make an exact estimate of the scale of the operation. Work on the A380, A350 and A400M programmes will be carried out at the site, Gray says. He declines to comment on the level of investment Airbus is making for the project. Andrew Mair, chief executive of the Midlands Aerospace Alliance, which has been working with Airbus on the project, says the company could explore the possibility of setting up a new-build facility, or collaborating with one of the engineering design houses in the region.
The crisis at car manufacturer MG Rover in April prompted Airbus to look at the engineering expertise in the area. Setting up a centre in the region will allow the company to take advantage without requiring engineers to relocate to Airbus in Bristol, Mair says.
Rolls-Royce, Goodrich, Meggitt and Smiths already have sites in the Midlands region, and Mair says the Airbus site will provide “another opportunity for the Midlands to swing its pool of skilled design engineers behind the growing aerospace sector, providing just the kind of jobs to replace those lost in the automotive industry”.
HELEN MASSY-BERESFORD/BIRMINGHAM
Source: Flight International
