A £1 million European remote handling centre of excellence has opened in West Cumbria.

American nuclear support firm PaR Systems has officially opened its base in Lillyhall, near Workington.

PaR Systems, a global leader in automated handling systems, has been operating from Seascale since 2011.

But it had outgrown its premises and moved to the former Gen2 building on Joseph Noble Road.

It specialises in remote manipulation and has also introduced innovative anti-sway technology for cranes, which has been deployed at Toyota across North America.

Rob Owen, business segment leader, said: "The facility in Seascale was great because it was close to Sellafield, but there was no room to develop.

"Being based here is ideal for the contracts we have at Sellafield, but will also be a base for our operations across Europe.

"We will be able to concentrate on research and development, plus we have the space here to demonstrate what we can do to our European customers."

PaR has grown its UK team and is now supporting several customers in the nuclear industry for projects, which include cranes, manipulators, custom tooling, robotic handling systems and research and development for decommissioning.

It has a contract at Chernobyl, but also works with the automotive and aerospace industries. It also has sites in Cheshire and France.

Mr Owen said it was keen to expand its services and the company saw the Lillyhall site as the equivalent of its American headquarters in Minnesota.

The new facility includes workshops for assembly of mechanical and electrical equipment and for the building, testing and refurbishment of manipulator systems.

It also includes specialised overhead cranes and a demonstration facility for PaR’s crane anti-sway and motion control systems.

John McGibbon, PaR Systems UK managing director, added: "This is really important for Cumbria. While we have been predominantly nuclear-focused in this area, reprocessing work is changing and we can take these people with these skills and use them in other industries.

"We have got 100 per cent support from the US for this facility. We are proud to add this location in West Cumbria and to support the local industrial businesses already established in the community.”

The move to the Lillyhall site has been assisted by the purchase of the site by local property firm BEC.