Friday, 15 March 2013

Rolls-Royce, the global power systems company, has opened a £50m London Heathrow Service Centre to provide round-the-clock specialist maintenance and support for aero engines.

The 95,000 square feet facility, larger than Wembley football pitch, includes a state-of-the-art engine workshop four times larger than the previous Rolls-Royce service centre at Hatton Cross, Heathrow.

In the new centre, engineers will be able to work on up to 13 of the latest generation Trent engines at any one time, double the capacity of the previous facility. When fully operational it will employ up to 60 people, with 40 transferring from the existing Rolls-Royce Heathrow facility, with potential to employ up to 20 further people in the longer term.

In addition, the centre can store up to 30 large gas turbines, ready to be made available to operators worldwide.

The centre was officially opened by Eric Schulz, President – Civil Large Engines, Rolls-Royce. He said: “We are very proud to open our new state-of-the-art London Heathrow Service Centre which joins our global network of service centres. As our order book and customer demand for our TotalCare support services continue to grow, we are committed to ensuring we deliver excellent support, on time, every time.”

More than 90 per cent of Trent engine orders include TotalCare® services support that maximise engine availability, helping operators to improve operational performance and reliability. Services accounted for more than 50 per cent of Rolls-Royce civil aerospace revenue in 2012.

The centre has been awarded an “excellent” rating by the Building Research Establishment, which assesses environmental attributes of building design, construction and operation.