Meggitt's new Ansty 'supersite' unveiled

“It marks the beginning of construction for one of the Midlands’ most important industrial parks.

“This deal with Meggitt is the largest in the region to our knowledge for many many years, a reflection on the quality of the location, what has been created by Homes England at Ansty Park and what Manse Opus is in the process of creating on the surplus Rolls-Royce land.”

This is what aerospace firm Meggitt’s new factory being built in Ansty Park will look like.

Planning permission has been granted for the 440,000 sq ft building, which represents one of the largest industrial projects in the Midlands in more than a decade.

It will see Meggitt centralise its operations at Ansty Park as part of a £130m investment.

The Meggitt facility forms just part of the development on the former Rolls Royce site, which will be known as Prospero.

Once completed the entire 200-acre Prospero industrial park will cover more than 2m sq ft.

Development is expected to get underway in August 2018 and be completed by October 2019.

The site is being developed by Manse Opus, which has appointed by Rolls-Royce to lead development and regeneration of surplus land owned by the aerospace giant.

Jobs lost

Meggitt’s new facility will see the closure of its sites in Holbrook Lane, Coventry; Wharfdale Road, Birmingham; and Maidenhead.

Meggitt announced its centralisation plans in November last year and said some roles from its Coventry operation would be moved to the United States.

But it added that it hoped to be able to re-deploy workers affected at its new Coventry “supersite”.

Speaking at the time a spokesman said: “For Meggitt Control Systems Coventry, the decision has been made to transfer all current manufacturing and support activities to our sister site in North Hollywood, this will create a centre of excellence for valve production.

“We expect the transfer of the MCS Coventry valve production processes and associated facilities will be completed in 2019. This means we would be closing the MCS Coventry facility at that time.

“During the two year period of transition, the company will actively endeavour to re-deploy those at risk into the proposed new super site at Ansty Park.

“The company are optimistic that we will be able to redeploy the workforce for those who wish to be part of this proposed investment, our intention is to retrain as many colleagues as possible as opportunities arise.”

Important step for the region

The 200-acre industrial park will sit alongside the retained Rolls-Royce operations, MTC, and Sainsbury’s regional headquarters.

Prospero is being spearheaded by David Mitchell and Richard Smith, managing directors of the Manse Opus joint venture commented.

In a joint statement, they said: “We are delighted to have secured this planning consent.

Manse Opus is a collaboration between Manse LLP, based in Edinburgh, and Warwickshire-based Opus Land, two Palmer Capital backed companies.

Opus Land has offices in Henley-in-Arden and London.