Engineering company to create 50 aerospace jobs

A French-owned engineering company is creating 50 aerospace jobs in Belfast, it was announced today.

Assystem SA will specialise in aerospace design engineering at a new base in the Harbour Estate.

The company has already taken on 30 staff and plans to recruit at least another 20 for its Old Channel Road location.

Announcing the move, Invest Northern Ireland’s chief executive, Leslie Morrison, said: “This investment by an international company will deliver wide economic benefits to Northern Ireland.

“As well as creating 50 high-quality jobs, many at graduate level, it will strengthen Northern Ireland’s aerospace sector.”

The announcement came the day after Belfast aerospace company Shorts confirmed it was about to start implementing nearly 650 redundancies ordered by its Canadian owner Bombardier last October.

Invest NI has offered financial support of £250,000 (€380,000) towards Assystem’s investment of just over £900,000 (€1.37m).

Belfast was just one of a number of potential EU locations considered by the French company, which is seeking to expand its global network of engineering offices.

It was attracted to Belfast because of the availability of skills, the competitive cost structure, high quality of telecoms infrastructure and the financial support offered, said Invest NI.

The local economy will be boosted by just over £4m (€6.1m) in salaries paid by the French company over a three-year period.

Mr Morrison said: “There is also potential for collaboration between the company and our universities with the aim of producing cutting-edge engineering solutions for the aerospace industry.”

Northern Ireland has an international reputation for excellence in aerospace. A strong tradition in aeronautical engineering has been consolidated in recent years by the establishment of the Centre for Excellence of Integrated Aircraft technology at Queen’s University.

Jeff Hoyle, Assystem’s aerostructures director, said: “Our aim is to create an engineering design centre of the highest calibre and we are confident that the ready availability of talented engineering graduates, the potential to work with the local universities and ongoing support from Invest NI will ensure that we can achieve that.”