Business boom to bring 80 jobs to Staffordshire
Eighty jobs are being created and millions of pounds is being invested as business booms in the Stafford area.
Gas technology experts Orbital UK will create 80 jobs over the next five years with the opening of a £3 million base at Cold Meece, near Stafford.
In nearby Stone, engineering giant ABB is powering ahead on major new energy projects that will secure the UK's electricity supply for the future.
And developers have their fingers crossed for the green light on a 113,500 sq ft industrial development at Stafford's Redhill Business Park after submitted plans to the council.
Birmingham-based Trebor Developments is working with US firm Rockspring on the Triton project and hopes to start work in January.
Next Friday, Orbital UK, which currently employs 120 people, will get the keys to its new building and start moving in the following Monday. It will provide the 31-year-old business with 46,000 sq ft state-of-the-art manufacturing and research facilities and provide a springboard for international growth.
The investment in the new facility was helped by £300,000 from the Regional Growth Fund-supported programme, delivered by Staffordshire Chambers of Commerce.
Richard Law, managing director of Orbital UK, said backing from US parent company CUI Global had allowed the redevelopment of half its five-acre site, next to Swinnerton Army Camp. The business, which started in a small industrial unit in Market Drayton, Shropshire, has grown to provide engineering solutions to the oil and gas industry. Its kit monitors the quality of gas imported into the UK and allows National Grid to remotely control its network around the UK. It also created the system that adds the odour to all domestic gas supplies.
William Clough, chief executive of CUI Global, said: "We're committed to creating jobs and wealth within the region, and the construction of this facility represents an exciting milestone in Orbital's growth."
Five miles away, the UK power systems arm of global technology group ABB has about 470 highly skilled engineers at its Oulton Road site working on major electrical engineering projects. Some specialists in the Stone team will be supporting ABB's latest contract, a $450 million scheme to link the power grids of the UK and Norway which will see high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations built at either end of a North Sea Network link.
But the biggest job for the Staffordshire-based engineers is a leading role in another major new project, providing sub-stations and the power connection for the £1.3 billion Rampion offshore wind farm.
ABB spokeswoman Karen Strong said the project will help to secure the future of the Stone site. "It will enable us to continue investing in our Stone site facilities as well as to continue to develop talent, from apprentices and graduates, as well as hiring experienced staff," she said.
"We are continually looking at how we can improve our facilities here. Our success will also be good for the local economy."
Stephen Trotter, managing director of ABB's Power Systems business in the UK, heads up the team at Stone and said: "ABB contract successes are testament to the skills and expertise of our team at Stone, which delivers world-class engineering projects." When it is finished in 2018, energy company E.on says the wind farm, eight miles off the Sussex coast, will provide enough electricity for 30,000 homes.
ABB will design and build the equipment to integrate the power from the wind farm into the nation's electricity grid, providing switchgear, transformers, automation and control and protection systems for the onshore substation, the offshore platform and a nearby National Grid sub-station at Bolney.
