Spirax Sarco won high-profile praise for its commitment to investment in new UK based production and R&D facilities when Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Nick Clegg visited the company’s Cheltenham site on 27th April.

“My first visit to Spirax Sarco has filled me with confidence, with its positive investment in Cheltenham… Spirax Sarco is exactly the sort of successful company Britain needs. In fact, Spirax Sarco shows how to do it!”

Mr Clegg toured Spirax Sarco UK’s Runnings Road site, where the company has invested £25 million to modernise its manufacturing facilities and expand into a five-acre site that is connected to the original facility by a tunnel beneath the road.

Mr Clegg was greeted by Spirax Sarco’s Finance Director David Meredith, UK Managing Director Byron Thomas, UK Supply Director Ian McDuff, Group Business Development Director Matteo Palena and Group Research and Development Manager, Simon Sprackling.

During a tour of the new facilities, 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 tour coincided with the recent launch of the government’s £1 billion Youth Contract Initiative.

“The reason we are visiting Spirax Sarco is because apprenticeships provide a bridge between education and work,” said Mr Clegg. He continued by saying he felt that apprenticeships were the ideal way to prepare young people for the world of work and the links they could form with businesses would set them up well for the future.

The Deputy PM finished off the tour with a look at the newly opened tunnel that will enable goods to be transferred between plants without disrupting the local environment or the traffic on the road above, reducing the organisation’s overall carbon footprint. This was followed by an overview of the facility’s component storage area, including the longest single length of narrow aisle racking in the UK.

To find out more please visit http://www.spiraxsarco.com or email uk.enquiries@spiraxsarco.com.