LONDON: For Rolls-Royce, every milestone needs to be recorded. Tradition demands it.
And so its chief executive, Chris Brownridge, followed the customary practice.
He marked the official start of above-ground construction of Rolls-Royce's new main building by signing the first steel column erected on the company’s extension site at Goodwood.
The signed steel column is the first of 437 that, together with beams and other supporting members, will form the internal framework of the new 40,000 square-metre facility.
The finished framework will be clad with sustainable materials, selected for their longevity, low environmental impact, aesthetic value and ability to blend in with the surrounding landscape.
Like the existing plant, the new building will have a living roof, providing an important new habitat for birds and insects; it will also generate its own renewable energy, using air-source heat pumps for low-level heating and a bio-solar roof to produce electricity.
Once complete, the building will house a new paint shop together with a range of new equipment and dedicated areas for bespoke works s well as production of the marque’s new generation of battery-electric motor cars.
The chief executive’s signature of approval on the work recalls the practice on the marque’s assembly line, whereby individual elements such as doors and chassis components were signed off with a chinagraph pencil by a supervisor before progressing to the next stage of assembly.
This practice was also followed by Sir Henry Royce himself, who personally inspected and signed off every design produced by his team.
At £300 million (RM1.7bil), the new extension represents the largest single investment in the Rolls-Royce headquarters since it opened in 2003.
