Clayco breaks ground on rocket engine manufacturing facility in Alabama
Aerospace Leader Blue Origin to occupy new 46-acre facility in Cumming Research Park in 2020
CHICAGO – January 25, 2019 – Clayco, a full-service turnkey real estate, architecture, engineering, design-build and construction firm, announced today the start of construction for Blue Origin’s new engine manufacturing facility in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama. The new 350,000-square-foot facility will house the tooling and infrastructure equipment and operations required to manufacture the BE-3U engine and the BE-4 liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueled rocket engine for orbital spaceflight.
This facility is also a significant project for the city of Huntsville, bringing more than 300 jobs to the area and further underscoring Alabama’s position as a hub for innovation, aerospace and technology.
“It’s a great day here in Rocket City,” said Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin. “Thanks to the votes of confidence from United Launch Alliance, from the Air Force for national security missions, and from Huntsville and the state of Alabama, we are breaking ground on a world-class facility to produce our engines and power the next generation of spaceflight.”
Blue Origin required a strategically-designed facility that would be able to not only support equipment needed for the complex manufacturing process but also allow room for each product development phase. The final result will be a 3-story, 41’ tall facility capable of receiving, manufacturing, fabricating, assembling, testing and shipping the highly sophisticated rocket engines.
“This new manufacturing facility is a wonderful addition to Clayco’s aerospace and advanced manufacturing portfolio,” said Clayco CEO Bob Clark. “This project is a testament to the collaboration of our enterprise and our focus to support clients that have a mission that goes beyond the walls of their facility.”
Clayco will operate as the design builder on the project, with wholly owned subsidiary Lamar Johnson Collaborative as the architect. Full rate production will occur in Huntsville after the anticipated completion date of the new facility in March 2020.
About Clayco
Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering and construction firm that delivers clients across North America the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With over $2 billion in revenue for 2017, Clayco specializes in the “art and science of building,” providing fast track, efficient solutions for industrial, commercial, institutional and residential related building projects. For more information visit www.claycorp.com.
About Lamar Johnson Collaborative
Lamar Johnson Collaborative is a full-service design and technology firm founded on the principle of creating a single forum that would bring together all of the capabilities of the master builder in a collaborative, creative, and inclusive process. Beyond the disciplines of Architecture and Interior Design, our team boasts world-class talent in Workplace Strategy, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning and Design. For more information visit theljc.com.