Rolls-Royce in demolition bid
FIRM PLANS TO FLATTEN NINE BUILDINGS AT SITE
Engineering giant RollsRoyce has launched a bid to demolish several buildings at one of its Sunderland sites.
In recent years, the firm announced plans to invest more than £30million into a new aerospace facility next to its existing Washington factory. As part of the changes, employees from the Pallion Industrial Estate factory, off the B1405, moved to the new site.
Now Rolls-Royce has lodged an application with Sunderland City Council to demolish nine buildings at the Pallion factory.
The works form part of the decommissioning process and include removing steel-framed buildings, levelling the site to its concrete foundations and removing debris.
A letter submitted to the council on behalf of RollsRoyce states the works will allow the firm to “rationalise and consolidate operations on site.”
If approved, bulldozers will move in on four work- shops, offices and other buildings.
The recent multi-million pound investment in Rolls-Royce’s Washington site marks the final stage of the firm’s modernisation programme for disc manufacturing in the North East.
As part of the demolition plans for the Pallion site, which is more than 60 years old, one workshop building is also expected to be retained.
The firm hopes to start Pallion works on February 4, subject to a final decision from planning bosses by Wednesday, January 16.