Royal opening for Fort Vale research base

THE Duke of Kent has opened a £1.5m research and development centre at Fort Vale Engineering’s base near Burnley.

Fort Vale employs 329 staff and manufactures stainless steel valves and fittings for the transportation of liquids, gases and powders.

The Duke’s visit followed Fort Vale’s receipt of a fourth Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade earlier this year.

Managing Director Ian Wilson said: “We were honoured to welcome the Duke of Kent to continue what has been another exciting and excellent year for us all here at Fort Vale. The opening of the research and development centre underlines our commitment to investment in training and innovation, which, along with the people here, are cornerstones of our success.

“We pride ourselves on developing first-class engineers, who make a high quality product which has made us key exporters to new and existing markets and helped us become world leaders in our field.”

The firm, founded by chairman Ted Fort in 1967, has annual sales of around £45m. Mr Fort still owns most of the shares.