Representatives of the GKN Aerospace facility in Tallassee, Alabama, joined state and local officials earlier this month for the ground-breaking ceremony of a new engineering design centre.

Announced at the Farnborough Airshow in July, the 10,800ft² centre will initially focus on composite technologies for rotorcraft.

Jeff Barger, vice-president and general manager of the GKN Aerospace Advanced Composite Structures (ACS) facility, said: “The new composites design engineering centre in Alabama will enable our global company to expand the design/development engineering support that we provide to customers.

"In addition, this project will significantly increase the number of highly skilled engineering personnel based at the growing facility in Tallassee.”

The GKN Aerospace ACS facility has been in operation since 1985 and employs more than 1,000 people. It has 380,000ft2 of manufacturing space, after a major expansion announced in 2005. The new engineering design centre is expected to be operating by early next year.