 On the following day, the NRDC board confirmed its decision to support the project, soon noting that it would be the organisation's biggest project to date.The NRDC promptly issued Saunders-Roe with a contract and authorisation to proceed.In 1959, a specialised subsidiary of the NDRC, named "Hovercraft Development Limited" (HDL), for which Cockerell was appointed as technical director to handle the contract with Sauders-Roe and built up a patent portfolio.