Cardiff Council’s key role in securing Rolls Royce for St Mellons

Cardiff Council has been actively working with the company, the site developer, and partners, to land this project and the decision is a ‘great endorsement' for partnership working and in the capital's skilled labour market and the Cardiff City Region.

A key requirement of the company was that the location needed to attract people with a background in mechanical design, materials engineering, structural integrity analysis, thermal analysis and fluid dynamics and we were able to demonstrate these skills exist - and importantly - can be grown here in the Capital city.

Image: Cardiff Council

As part of this process the Council worked with the company to establish a trial recruitment fayre in City Hall, supported by Cardiff University and Cardiff and Vale College, which allowed Rolls Royce Submarines to meet local talent and test the skills pipeline at an early stage of the process to show the company the skills available here.

It was a great success and it was also clear from the council's early discussions with Rolls Royce Submarines that the development of the station infrastructure at Parkway was also an important ingredient in the company selecting Cardiff and St Mellons for this exciting project. 

Councillor Russell Goodway, cabinet member for Investment and Development said: ‘'The decision by Rolls Royce to select St Mellons in Cardiff for their investment to deliver a new engineering office to support the growth of their nuclear business in the UK is a major boost not only for the economy of Cardiff and its city region but also Wales.

"I was delighted to be able to meet the Rolls Royce team at an early stage in their decision-making process and offer them the full support of the council in establishing their office in St Mellons.

 "The investment not only brings an iconic multinational business to Cardiff but with-it new skills to support a growing global industrial sector. In terms of its long-term impact on the economy, this inward investment project has the potential to follow other transformational investments from the likes of Admiral, IQE, and Legal and General, which the council was also heavily involved with. 

 "The investment will provide long-term skilled, and well-paid employment across our communities, creating a tremendous boost to innovation and research amongst Universities and Colleges across Wales and I understand some of these innovation partnerships have already been established. 

 "In our discussions it was also clear that the decision by Rolls Royce in selecting St Mellons was heavily influenced by the prospect of a planned new rail station serving the business park, and I am delighted the council team were able to work closely with the developer at St Mellons to land this prestigious project.''