Gordon Murray announces new global headquarters
Sprawling 54-acre site in Surrey will include production facilities - and a 'test road'
Fresh from the triumphant reveal of the new T.50 hypercar, the Gordon Murray Group has announced plans for a new technology campus in the heart of Surrey's green belt. Located within seven miles of McLaren's Technology Centre, the all-new 130,000 sq ft headquarters at Windlesham will house production facilities alongside considerable resource for design and engineering, research and development - and even a heritage centre.
Earmarked for £50m of fresh investment, the new site is indicative of a significant uptick in ambition following the unveiling of the V12-powered T.50 in August. Windlesham is all about the future: the firm expects more than 100 new jobs to be created as it gears up for the production of a as-yet-unspecified second model. The facility will be created in three phases, with the building devoted to sales and manufacturing expect to be completed first. Two additional buildings, the brand's headquarters and R&D centre, will follow in subsequent years.
"This new technology campus and global headquarters is a major investment and a huge step forward for the Gordon Murray Group, as we gather momentum for the next phase of our business and our brands, spearheaded by the all-new T.50 supercar," explained Professor Murray, chairman of GMG.
"This new HQ is a significant investment and will create high value-added new jobs. We're also proud to be already making significant contribution to UK exports, and helping secure the vital UK automotive supply chain. Over 90 per cent of the content of the new T.50 comes from UK suppliers, which is something that we specified from the start. It is designed, engineered and manufactured from world-class British components in Britain."
Given the timescale involved with the proposed building work, the firm's existing premises at Dunsfold Park and Shalford will be retained, and the T.50 and track-only T.50S will be built at the former as planned. Speaking to PH late last week, Murray confirmed that Shalford will be dispensed with first as the company makes its slow transition to Windlesham. The project is not due for overall completion until 2024.
While GMG already owns the 54-acre site, the plans for its development remain at a relatively early stage. Local residents were consulted last month, with the reaction said to be overwhelmingly positive - not least because GMG has promised to sympathetically integrate its new buildings into what was once an 18th century deer park. More recently, the same location was the backdrop for BOC's headquarters, and still features the substantial building originally designed to represent an oxygen molecule.
Murray confirmed that this facility will be kept, though apparently it is in too decrepit a state to be utilised immediately. (Some PHers may know the building as the last official resting place of Bristol Cars, ahead of its court-ordered liquidation under Kamkorp ownership.) The site's new owner would not be drawn on plans for the architecturally significant structure, although GMG's planning proposal suggests that some kind of educational venue might be under consideration in the future.
For now, the focus is on the three entirely new buildings proposed for the immediate future - as well as the 'test road' that will flank them. Murray confirmed to PH that GMG's plan incorporates a shakedown area for cars fresh off the new production line rather than a traditional test track (it has recently confirmed a two-year lease on facilities at Millbrook proving ground for that purpose), though it will feature pave surfacing and other features aligned with the job of scrutinising each and every car built at Windlesham.
Plainly the identity of the model due to start rolling off the new production line remains a closely guarded secret; for now GMG is rightly preoccupied with the progress of the T.50. Murray confirmed that the car's development programme starts in earnest next month and is due to last well into next year. Pre-sales of the model are said to have gone well, and Murray suggested that additional evolutions of the Cosworth-designed V12 have since exceeded the 650hp output originally stated for the naturally-aspirated engine.
Additionally, Murray dismissed the idea that a location so close to MTC was intentionally selected to rile his former employer (the designer has lived and worked in Surrey for over 50 years) although he did suggest that several ideas submitted - and subsequently rejected - for McLaren's showpiece headquarters were duly being incorporated into the 'low energy, very functional' buildings proposed for Windlesham.
"Our innovative new technology campus is a fantastic new home and will give us world-class facilities that have been designed with a lot of attention to communication, workflow and social interaction - which will bring new levels of productivity to our already very efficient team," he noted. Murray's nonchalance will not be replicated in Woking; expect McLaren to take a profound interest in the progress of its new neighbour as it steadily matures from pet project to pocket-sized rival.
Vehicular access isn't great- one way you've got windlesham and lightwater with no access for 44tonners onto chertsety road (where these buildings are) , and that's where the M3 junction comes from. The other direction sees massive trucks going into the centre of sunningdale, or going the very long way via longcross. The only other option is a windy route which would take them past mclaren's front door.
Great to see BOC HQ being repurposed...
wonder if we'll get our vegetable patches back----all the local residents were turfed out a couple of decades ago from some beautiful allotments, and then the land was left fallow, Gordon if you're reading this- we live opposite you in a very small house, and we'd love an allotment please. If you could also come to the pram race on boxing day, that would be great too please
Lots of very very very very expensive houses in that area though- probably lots of customers
Good luck to GM and team, if they’ve sold their hundred-car T.50 run for £1m each, that’s a £100m project - which is 90% of British origin, and from which a significant amount of the output will be exported.
I can't help thinking ambitions may have outstripped reality - again.
Although I'd love it to work out!
I can't help thinking ambitions may have outstripped reality - again.
Although I'd love it to work out!
His arguments are correct but fail to take into account basic human desire to consume as much as possible and to be as visible as possible while doing so.
I think the key to this particular move is to check who the other major shareholders are and who is planned to replace GM in a company that is built solely around his name etc.
His arguments are correct but fail to take into account basic human desire to consume as much as possible and to be as visible as possible while doing so.
I think the key to this particular move is to check who the other major shareholders are and who is planned to replace GM in a company that is built solely around his name etc.
Good luck to GM and team, if they’ve sold their hundred-car T.50 run for £1m each, that’s a £100m project - which is 90% of British origin, and from which a significant amount of the output will be exported.
I agree with your sentiment regarding it, in many ways, being an easier undertaking to produce another ultra exclusive, high value car.
Arguably, no one will build a small city car because without local governments forcing consumers to buy them the average consumer wouldn’t. This is where GMD’s logical eco argument of smaller, lighter simply fails as it does for everyone. EVs only exist because of thatbimportant legislation.
After the push into EVs will inevitably come the push into smaller, lighter vehicles but sadly, given timings etc, I doubt GM will see that phase.
The silly thing is that while only a few consumers can either afford or utilise EVs, if we really did want to cut emissions, cut material use, cut pollution, the reality is that every car user on the planet could afford and utilise smaller, lighter cars and have been able to do so for decades. It’s the real elephant in the room for the supposed environmental argument, the fact that we have the largest, heaviest, most overall consuming and wasteful cars that we’ve ever had yet the loudest and most expensive global drive to ‘eco’.
However, I assume this facility when it comes fully on line in 2024 will be to produce a baby sports car rather than a high volume people’s car?
The key to Surrey is that it’s only a short journey to get money as well as clients and with decades of high level engineering taking place in the local vicinity there is a ready pool of intelligent labour at the slightly lower levels of engineering etc.
Plus, when building the short term teamnof production specialists to see the project through from funding to delivery you are often having to bring contractors in from all over Europe and those people want and need to be close to airports, Chunnel and London. No one wants to be facing ridiculous weekly commutes at the best of times or spending the working week in one horse towns and at the professional level and typical age these people are at they aren’t going to put up with such inconveniences.
The tech and engineering corridors along the main motorways out of London are pretty much the only places you can locate certain businesses in the UK and out of those you are going to opt for the corridor that’s easiest for you to get to as the boss.
Arguably, no one will build a small city car because without local governments forcing consumers to buy them the average consumer wouldn’t. This is where GMD’s logical eco argument of smaller, lighter simply fails as it does for everyone. EVs only exist because of thatbimportant legislation.
After the push into EVs will inevitably come the push into smaller, lighter vehicles but sadly, given timings etc, I doubt GM will see that phase.
The silly thing is that while only a few consumers can either afford or utilise EVs, if we really did want to cut emissions, cut material use, cut pollution, the reality is that every car user on the planet could afford and utilise smaller, lighter cars and have been able to do so for decades. It’s the real elephant in the room for the supposed environmental argument, the fact that we have the largest, heaviest, most overall consuming and wasteful cars that we’ve ever had yet the loudest and most expensive global drive to ‘eco’.
However, I assume this facility when it comes fully on line in 2024 will be to produce a baby sports car rather than a high volume people’s car?
I was of the understanding that overall fleet efficiency has improved? MPG has been steadily improving (in my experience anyway), and if you look at pretty much every car for sale today and compare it with its earlier versions, you'll find MPG generally getting better on a periodic basis. No?
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