Rolls-Royce is a big company who make jet engines. See, you don’t get that kind of in-depth research from anyone else! The East Kilbride factory was built to cope with post-war demand for the Avon turbojet engines alongside the giant wartime factory at Hillington, but now it is the largest jet engine repair and overhaul facility in Europe.
The factory is made up of four long main buildings – two appear to be being remodelled or decommissioned, so I started in one of them:
Some jet engines were being stored in this building:
Next over into one of the live buildings:
A heat treating cell:
And this is where I bumped into a worker (at 2am on a Monday morning, he was keen!) – and after that it was running and hiding from security with vans and torches for a bit, which was fun 😉
The East Kilbride plant is closing in 2014, and is already partly demolished, sadly – bringing an end to a very long history.
All images:
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