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Public consultation for new factory gets under way

January, 2025

The final touches are being made to a public consultation for Royal British Legion Industries’ ambitious plans for a new factory and head office at Aylesford in Kent.

The military charity is looking to raise a total of £12.5m to replace its current outdated factory. The site is home to one of its social enterprise locations, Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company (BBMC), which employs Armed Forces veterans overcoming life-changing injuries; and its award-winning Lifeworks team, which helps get veterans back into employment UK wide.

A CGI of how the new building would look.

Public engagement

Maxim has been enlisted to support the RBLI team on the consultation, which includes a mix of community and stakeholder engagement, alongside media relations. The programme will culminate in a public exhibition at the Capel Morris Centre on RBLI’s village in Aylesford, on Tuesday, 21 January.

Maxim’s Managing Director Andrew Metcalf said: “The work is being undertaken to a tight timetable. It started with a save the date notice to stakeholders before Christmas for a recent early New Year briefing. This has been followed by the start of engagement with the media and local community.

“Attention is now focused on ensuring we’ve dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s for everything that’s needed for the public exhibition – information boards, feedback forms, invitations sent, fliers distributed, public notices displayed and staff rostered and briefed, etc, not forgetting having an online presence.

“RBLI has a very strong story to tell and we want to make sure it is well presented to the local community.”

Media coverage

To date the RBLI news has been covered by ITV Meridian, BBC Radio Kent, KentOnline and Kent Messenger, plus others.

A screenshot from the ITV Meridian coverage.

In addition to the factory, the proposals would build a training and conference centre, a hands-on skills academy for veterans, and the replacement of the charity’s existing 1970s offices. The new buildings could enable RBLI to recruit a further 80 people, adding to the 158 already working at Aylesford. The new buildings would be developed on land owned by RBLI next to the M20, adjacent to the current factory and head office.

 

 

Lisa Farmer OBE, RBLI’s Chief Executive, said: “To date we’ve successfully secured more than £6 million, nearly half the total towards the project. We are confident the local community and businesses will want to see RBLI continue the nationally important employability work we do to support veterans across the country from here in Kent.

“The current factory, hot in the summer and cold in the winter, is not an ideal working environment for veterans with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities. It has a limited lifespan and is very expensive to maintain.”

The proposed 68,000ft2 purpose-built and energy-efficient facility would continue to produce road and track side signs for the road and rail industry, as well as high quality commercial and point of sale signage for retail, and carrying out engineering, assembly, printing, mailing and distribution.

The proposals will form the basis of a planning application to be considered by Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council. Further information can be found at www.rbli.co.uk/factory

Andrew Metcalf - Director

Andrew Metcalf

Maxim / Managing Director

posted in: maxim/client news, media relations, public relations,

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