Belfast High Flyers Expand

It's lucky 13 for designers and engineers as a Belfast aerospace company announced expansion this week - creating 13 new, high-tech jobs at the same time.

NI Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has announced an £870,000 expansion project by the Nacelle Systems Consultancy (NSC).

NSC primarily designs, develops and integrates sophisticated electrical, hydraulic and control equipment to connect aircraft engines to wings.

The company has recently won a number of lucrative contracts, including multi-million pound deals with global players including Parker Aerospace of USA and BAE Systems.

To meet the increase in demand for the company's services, NSC has moved to new dedicated premises and is creating 13 new high quality posts.

Invest Northern Ireland has offered over £115,000 towards the expansion investment, with part funding from the European Regional Development Fund.

Speaking as she officially opened the company's new premises in east Belfast, the Minister said: "Established in 2005, Nacelle Systems Consultancy is an excellent example of a small, indigenous company succeeding on a challenging world stage that is often dominated by major multinational corporations.

"Thanks to a combination of high calibre skills and a shrewd knowledge of the market, NSC is securing premium, specialised work contracts that are not only lucrative but which are also helping the company build a significant international reputation.

"This success has enabled NSC to upgrade its premises, ramp up its export marketing activities, and offer excellent specialist employment opportunities. Together these activities will help ensure the business is well positioned to capitalise when the global economy turns upward again."

Tom Mallon, Managing Director of Nacelle Systems Consultancy, said: "In less than five years we have steadily grown our turnover primarily by subcontracting out much of the international work we secure to freelance engineers situated close to the customer, enabling us to keep overheads very low.

"However, thanks to our recent deals with companies including Parker and BAE, we have gained a strong foothold in the market, and we now wish to develop a permanent, in-house capability to deliver the best possible service to our clients.

"The support of Invest NI is crucial in making our expansion a reality, reducing the need to subcontract work whilst significantly improving our ability to attract even more work packages in the future."

(BMcC/GK)