Concorde to get permanent home at new Aerospace Centre

    Concorde. Image by Martin Chainey

    The story of Bristol’s aerospace industry will be the focus of a brand new centre at Filton airfield, one of the birthplaces of British aviation industry.

    Interior of Concorde
    Interior of Concorde

    The Bristol Aero Collection Trust has been awarded a £4.7million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to create an Aerospace Centre at Filton airfield.

    Concorde flightdeck
    Concorde flightdeck

    The new centre will tell the story of Bristol’s aerospace industry from 1910 to the present day and into the future, displaying several important heritage collections.

    The new centre will also create a permanent home where visitors can access Concorde 216, the last British Concorde assembled at the Filton site which led the design, testing and production of the supersonic airliner.

    The project is set to be completed by 2017 and will conserve two listed hangars dating back to the First World War, described by English Heritage as ‘the most complete of any in existence’. The atmospheric spaces will be refurbished to provide an aerospace industrial museum with hands-on activities, interactive galleries, learning centre and workshops.

    Lloyd Burnell, Project Director of the Trust said: “We’re delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has awarded us this grant. The Bristol Aerospace Centre at Filton, which provides a permanent home for Concorde, will be a fantastic attraction for the region and provide enormous learning and volunteering opportunities for a wide range of people, from school pupils to local groups and retired workers. The fascinating collections, many of which will be made accessible to the public for the first time, include thousands of important objects and nationally-significant archives which trace over 100 years of technical innovation and engineering brilliance, along with the social history of the people who’ve worked in the industry”.

    The total cost of the project is £16 million and Bristol Aero Collection Trust has already received significant pledged support from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, South Gloucestershire Council as well as a number of local and national charitable trusts and major donors.

    www.bristolaero.org

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