Steam system specialist, Spirax Sarco, won praise for its commitment to investment in new UK-based production and R&D facilities when Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, visited its Runnings Road, Cheltenham site, where the company has invested £25 million modernising its manufacturing facilities and expanding into a five-acre site connected to the original facility by a tunnel.
Mr Clegg said: “My first visit to Spirax Sarco has filled me with confidence, with its positive investment in Cheltenham.” During his tour, coinciding with the launch of the Government’s £1 billion Youth Contract Initiative, Mr Clegg encountered Spirax Sarco’s energetic apprenticeship programme first-hand, with equipment demonstrations given by current apprentice, Mike Cooke, and ex-apprentice, David Oliver. “The reason we are visiting Spirax Sarco is because apprenticeships provide a bridge between education and work,” said Mr Clegg. He completed his visit with a look at the tunnel that will enable goods to be transferred between plants without disrupting the local environment or traffic on the road above, and also viewed the facility’s component storage area, including what is reportedly the UK’s longest single length of narrow aisle racking.
