Introducing HMGCC - Transcript
Introduction
This film features the words of HMGCC people. From our chief executive and our engineers, to technicians, craftspeople and apprentices. They have been revoiced by actors to protect their identities as specialists in national security engineering.
On the screen, the film shows a sequence of close-up, detailed video footage taken in HMGCC’s engineering and manufacturing facilities. The footage highlights some of the wide range of techniques and specialisms that come together in national security engineering - from electronics, software and mechanical engineering to woodworking, painting and finishing and radiofrequency testing.
Because we can’t show everything about what we do, the images on screen are often intriguing and oblique and they do not literally illustrate the words you will hear.
The music used in the film, has been composed using sounds from engineering processes as well as traditional instruments and morse code. The soundtrack starts with those engineering sounds.
The film
GEORGE:
You just need to look around us to see that we live in this ever more uncertain and complex world. And outside there’s just an accelerating technological set of changes and shifts going on. And you need an organisation that is trying to make sense of that and take advantage of that to keep this country safe.
KATHRYN:
If we’re going to stand up for our values and our way of life in this country, we need to harness all our combined strengths. And one of the most powerful of those is engineering.
GEORGE:
So, what I think is delightful to be able to say after 86 years is, wo are we? Well, I’ll tell you who we are. We’re HMGCC, and we’re the engineering specialists at the heart of the UK’s national security.
ARCHIE:
It’s everything from supreme precision to complete creativity set under one roof.
DEREK:
Yeah, this is probably one of the most diverse places I’ve ever worked in.
You know, in terms of skills and backgrounds.
MAYA:
It’s part of representing the country we serve.
ALEXANDER:
Over the years, we’ve encouraged our engineers to work alongside our partners in national security, sharing the challenges that they’re trying to overcome, and really being part of the mission from the start.
RANI:
It helps build that trust that we know what we’re doing.
KATHRYN:
We need to be able to respond sometimes at really short notice to really interesting and difficult challenges.
ARCHIE:
Unsticking the stuck and making sure things go out the door when they really need to.
KATHRYN:
And we connect to the brightest and the best that we can find in this country in terms of academia and industry.
LIAM:
Finding ways of reaching out beyond our walls to connect our freethinking engineers with the most creative people we can work with.
GEORGE:
One of the amazing things about what we make is that the artefacts we design and deliver solve uniquely difficult problems in novel and bespoke ways.
RANI:
That hidden technological advantage that helps keep us ahead and keep the country safe.
CHRISTOPHER:
Then you add the aspiration and importance of the mission. It’s really rewarding.
CHARLOTTE:
We’ve had some really interesting characters over the years, including Mr Turing, of course, and they come up with great ideas, but it’s often the group working together that delivers them because they bring difference to it.
CHRISTOPHER:
And when we consciously create spaces which bring those people together to co-create and share those thoughts… that’s when creativity is at its greatest.
MAYA:
It’s what engineers do. It's what we do at our best in this country.
RANI:
Challenging... questioning... That independent thinking, it’s everyone’s business here.
ALEXANDER:
And it's that freethinking that really sets us apart, I think.
MAYA:
It gives us an edge.
GEORGE:
So, I think to sum up what we do... for over 80 years, we've worked with the agencies, government departments, academia, private sector partners and our international allies to bring that engineering ingenuity to the national security mission, creating tools and technologies that drive us ahead.
KATHRYN:
It means we can look further into the future than perhaps our adversaries are at the moment. And think about technology that's coming over the horizon.
JADA:
And when you can actually understand what you’ve built has had an effect on the safety of this country… It’s pretty incredible. It’s what gets me up in the morning.
End credits
The HMGCC team members featured were:
Alexander, head of software.
Archie, manufacturing team senior leader.
Becky, security researcher intern.
Charlotte, history team.
Christopher, principal systems engineer.
Derek, business change manager.
George, chief executive.
Jada, software apprentice.
Kathryn, senior executive.
Liam, co-creation team.
Maya, recruitment advisor.
And Rani, security researcher.
The video footage used on screen featured the following technical, creative and engineering processes taking place at HMGCC’s specialist facilities:
- Precision laser cutting and shaping of the HMGCC
logo from a stainless-steel sheet - 3D technical design software being used to create
a new national security engineering device - Magnifying X-Ray scanning to quality-control bespoke
printed circuit board production - Radio signal testing rigs used to evaluate new national
security tools and technologies. - Micro printed circuit board assembly machines in action
- Hand-soldering and assembly of electronics components
- A precision lathe used to create bespoke components
for mission technology. - Painting and finishing of a test device
- Our data wall showing the latest input and output from
our in-mission technologies - Precision laser engraving of the HMGCC emblem
- The film also features supporting footage showing software
development and computer hardware. For security reasons,
this was not filmed at HMGCC’s engineering facilities
The end.