Major contract won for aircraft finishing

Edited by the Manufacturingtalk editorial team Jun 22, 2004

Hodge Clemco has won a GBP 3.2 million contract for surface preparation and finishing facilities at a new state-of-the-art aircraft maintenance centre being.

Hodge Clemco has won a GBP 3.2 million contract for surface preparation and finishing facilities at a new state-of-the-art aircraft maintenance centre being built for the Defence Aviation Repair Agency in South Wales.

The order is the biggest ever won by the Sheffield-based company in its 45-year history and is the result of close collaboration with USA-based Global Finishing Solutions, for which Hodge Clemco is the UK agent.

It involves building five booths - one for surface preparation and four for painting - that are big enough to accommodate military jets such as the Tornado, Eurofighter and other aircraft.

The paint-booths, 20 metres wide x 22 metres long x 8.5 metres high, are designed to cope with the specialised coatings used on aircraft, with three-stage filtration to minimise emissions to the surrounding area and sophisticated heating systems to optimise the performance of the coatings in service.

High-specification lighting will guarantee minimum 1000 lux illumination.

The de-painting chamber will include a high-performance recycling system which will enable a high proportion of the acrylic media used to remove existing coatings to be re-used, bringing considerable savings in running costs.

"Being appointed to work on such a large, important project confirms Hodge Clemco's position as one of the UK's leading companies in this field", said managing director Neil Crisford.

"Our expertise and our ability to handle all aspects of the installation from initial designs through to training and maintenance won us the contract." The DARA aircraft maintenance facility at RAF St Athan, which is budgeted to cost GBP 78 million, is due to be completed later this year and will be a key element of a new Aerospace Centre of Excellence planned by the Welsh Development Agency at the site.

The main contractor is Laing O'Rourke.