Rolls-Royce reveals its hidden depths

In the latest edition of Marketing Derby’s Innovate Magazine we get a fascinating insight into Rolls-Royce’s Raynesway site, which is set to almost double in size.

We speak to Steve Carlier, president of Rolls-Royce Submarines, who talks about the exciting future which lies ahead for Raynesway.

It was thrust into the international spotlight in March last year when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, President Joe Biden and  Australian Premier Anthony Albanese faced television cameras at a naval base in San Diego to announce a new multi-billion-pound submarine  programme as part of the AUKUS – Australia, UK and US – pact.

Based on British next-generation designs and incorporating technology from all three nations, the deal will give the Royal Navy its largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarines to date and provide Australia with its first nuclear propelled sub-surface fleet.

And all of the new AUKUS subs will be powered by reactors built in Derby, where massive investment will be made to expand Raynesway and create 1,200 new jobs.

In the interview with Innovate, Steve acknowledges that activity at Raynesway has been pretty much under the radar in the past – but that is now changing.

He said: “I think in the past it suited us to remain relatively unnoticed. It goes with what we are about. No pun intended but we don’t like to break the surface.

“We are in a resurgent nuclear industry now. We want to be able to showcase the really exciting things we do here in a different way.”

The new AUKUS agreement now necessitates a doubling in size of Rolls-Royce’s Raynesway plant, where more than 4,000 people are already employed.

As well as creating new jobs at the site, hundreds more are expected to be created in the supply chain, much of which is based in the Midlands.

Steve told Innovate: “I’m really proud. It’s great news for Rolls-Royce and for the country as a whole and is testament to the expertise of the people within the business and the overall engineering pedigree of the region.

“What AUKUS has done for us is, I guess, turned heads. We have one of the biggest concentrations of high-end nuclear engineering and the applied sciences not just in the UK but anywhere in the western world.

“It’s just that, probably, people didn’t realise that, and, so, to get that recognised in public is most unlike us, first and foremost, but really pleasing, nevertheless.

“We still can’t disclose much of what we do. You’re not going to see any of our products heading down the street in a very public fashion so anyone can see.

“We have to be realistic. But we are changing the way we present ourselves to the public. We are learning to be different to perhaps what we were in the past.”

To read the feature in full visit https://heyzine.com/flip-book/fbdb70bd48.html#page/40 .