Prodrive is relocating its headquarters to a new larger facility in Banbury, UK, less than a mile from its present home. Construction of the new building, which will also be next to the M40 motorway, will commence in August and the company will move during March 2015.
“It became clear that our current site would not be suitable for our future needs as while motorsport remains core to our business we have diversified into a number of new areas,” said David Richards, chairman. “Our current site has become a familiar landmark for the millions of motorists who have driven up and down the M40 over the last 30 years. However our new location will be no less prominent and the increase in size of the facility will allow us to expand into new and exciting arenas beyond motorsport.”
The new site will be Prodrive’s third headquarters, having been originally based at Silverstone in 1984, before moving to Banbury in 1986. At that point, the company’s single building housed its then BMW race and rally teams and looked out on to fields. It wasn’t until 1991 that the M40 was extended from Oxford to Birmingham passing right in front of the company’s headquarters.
Over the last 28 years the company has expanded from one to 12 separate buildings. The new facility is a single 110,000 sq ft structure giving flexibility to house Prodrive’s motorsport and advanced technology businesses and allowing for a far more efficient operation. The company’s 40,000 sq ft composite manufacturing operation will remain in Milton Keynes.
“While we are best known for our motorsport successes, this now only represents a third of our turnover,” said Richards. “Walk around our site today and you will see Aston Martin Racing cars and MINI rally cars being prepared in workshops right next to advanced active aero systems for road going supercars; interior modules for luxury cars; advanced hybrid systems; and even the next generation of control systems for racing yachts.”
Prodrive’s current headquarters will be cleared in September to make way for a new retail park which will open in late 2015.
