Hughes500 - he said all his build is in-house so yes, he does need his own equipment.
I am sure the actual manufacturing is straightforward once you have proved the design, got the tooling, sourced the raw materials and tested sufficient failure modes.
The £100K up front is enough of a question mark but non-refundable????? He saw you coming, the 100 who have invested.
I read on the Hill Helicopters website that " they have an excellent working relationship with the regulators". Now retired after 30 years working with regulators I never really succeeded in having any sort of relationship with UK/ EASA / FAA regulators, and that was for just normal aviation operations, not major modifications or manufacturing.
One question I do have, do we manufacture under EASA regulations now or is UK independent.