Jobs boost as Salmond unveils £2m RSA grants

MORE than £2 million of grant support has been secured by two firms in moves that will safeguard or create almost 300 jobs, it emerged yesterday.

A total investment of 16m, including almost 2m of regional selective assistance (RSA) funding, is to be made at Irvine-based Ardagh Glass to safeguard the jobs of 248 workers and ensure plant facilities are upgraded. Some 14m of investment will come from the company itself.

Ardagh Glass is one of Irvine's largest employers, manufacturing glass containers primarily for the spirits industry.

Meanwhile, 39 jobs are to be created at Culzean Medical Devices in Prestwick, a subsidiary of Lombard Medical Technologies. An RSA grant of 200,000 will go towards a total 297,000 investment.

The expansion will allow the site to become a main manufacturing centre for stent grafts, a tubular device that is used in medicine to treat abdominal aortic aneurysms.

The investment will also secure the jobs of the seven existing staff who work in Prestwick.

Lombard Medical, which has been operating at the Ayrshire site since 2007, recently announced plans to move its production of stent grafts to Prestwick from Didcot, Oxfordshire. The move will increase capacity at Didcot for other products.

John Rush, chief executive of Lombard Medical, said: "The grant will allow us to focus important elements of our worldwide production in Scotland, and to benefit from the existing talent pool, advantageous cost base and the ability to scale up production to meet growing international demand."

First Minister Alex Salmond revealed the support for the Ayrshire economy as the Scottish cabinet met in Kilmarnock yesterday morning.

Commenting on the two awards, he said: "This investment shows Scotland has a high-quality manufacturing base and is testament to the talent and skills of the Ayrshire workforce."