NORTEL NETWORK’S former Northern Ireland campus is set for a new lease of life after Bombardier Aerospace acquired the facility which had been on the market for £5 million.

The Canadian aerospace giant confirmed it intends to consolidate some parts of its operations in the North in one location at Nortel’s former facility on the outskirts of Belfast. Bombardier said it will relocate its customer services, some manufacturing operations and offices to the campus.

The group expects more than 600 employees to be based at the former Nortel site in Newtownabbey, which was sold on the the instructions of administrators to Nortel Networks UK Limited.

It is understood there will be no new jobs created as a direct result of the consolidation process but that the relocation will give the aerospace group the opportunity to facilitate the planned growth in composite wing production in the North as a result of the launch of Bombardier’s new CSeries aircraft programme.

It also provides Bombardier with an ideal site for future business expansion in Northern Ireland if the opportunity arises. The 29-acre facility was previously the headquarters of Nortel’s EMEA Supply Chain Operations and employed more than 1,000 people.

At one stage the Canadian company, which invested more than £70 million in the North, employed 1,000 people.

It filed for administration in the UK in January 2009 which resulted in significant job losses at its former Northern Ireland facility despite the subsequent sale of part of the business to competitors and other companies.