Former GE Aviation Systems factory in Newmarket's Exning Road set to be demolished

Work to demolish a former factory in Newmarket which has been empty for around two years was scheduled to start yesterday.

GE Aviation Systems closed its Exning Road works in 2017 resulting in the loss of around 60 jobs.

Now it is set to clear the site demolishing the seven buildings which made up the factory which had originally opened as the Newmarket Transistor Development Company in the 1950s.

GE Aviation is part of American multinational corporation General Electric and the Newmarket factory had been a leading supplier of high-reliability electronics and displays for aerospace, military, transport, telecommunications, computer, medical and industrial applications.

A notification document submitted to West Suffolk Council said demolition of all the buildings on the site to ground level was expected to be completed by the end of October. No prior planning approval was required.

The work would be done in phases including asbestos removal, structural demolition and site clearance.

When the work was complete the site would be secured with panel hoarding.

According to the notification document demolition was required ‘to support the proposed ground remediation and future development of the site’.

The Journal contacted the company’s agent to ask what the future plans were for the site but she said she had no comment to make.

Another factory in Exning Road, LED lighting specialist Dialight, closed at around the same time as GE Aviation Systems, making around 100 workers redundant.

Its former premises, which cover more than three acres, are currently being used by another business, interiors designer and wholesaler, The Libra Company.