Project Mensa will not be derailed by nuclear doors hitch - AWE

PRODUCTION delays have hit the engineering firm awarded a four-year £20m deal to build blast-proof doors and frames for AWE Aldermaston to house nuclear warheads.Redhall Group issued a profits warning after shares fell 21 per cent on Monday owing to problems with its contract, awarded last February, to design, manufacture and install the 10-tonne doors and frames for the weapons establishment as part of Project Mensa to improve the warhead assembly facilities.

Difficulties with a subcontractor providing the door frames has caused delays and pushed up costs.

The contract was technically “challenging” and experienced production issues, Redhall said in a statement last Thursday.

The news saw Redhall’s share price plunge 22.5p to 81p, which could see a drop in revenue of about £4m.

A spokeswoman for AWE, Rachel Whybrow, said that the delays would not affect production on Project Mensa, as the nuclear bomb maker factored delays into production.

She said: “We are aware Redhall has issued a trading statement regarding its current profit share.

“We continue to be in discussion with them on aspects of Project Mensa – Mensa is the replacement facility for our assembly/disassembly of warheads.

“We have built in steps to ensure that any technical difficulties, which may be faced, would not result in a delay to the overall project.

“Over many years, AWE has enjoyed a professional and excellent working business partnership with Redhall / Booth Industries and we are confident this relationship will continue.”