'Major milestone' for McLaren as supercar firm handed keys to new £50m Rotherham site

SUPERCAR giant McLaren was handed the keys to its new £50 million site on Rotherham’s Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) today.
The McLaren SennaThe McLaren Senna
The McLaren Senna

The building will house McLaren’s Composites Technology Centre (MCTC), where it will build and develop carbon-fibre tubs around which its vehicles are built. 

The finished tubs will then be sent to the McLaren Production Centre in Surrey where the company’s vehicles have been hand-assembled since 2011.

The MCTC will be home to only McLaren’s second-ever production facility and the first outside its native Woking. 

Ruth Nic Aoidh, McLaren’s executive director for commercial and legal, received the key to the building from Owen Michaelson, chief executive of Harworth Group plc, who have built the Catcliffe unit. 

Ruth said: “Getting the key to the building that will house the McLaren Composites Technology Centre is a major milestone for us and the next chapter in our growth as a young, ambitous, innovative company.

“It’s also an important day for all of the many individuals, organisations and suppliers who have supported and shared our ambitious plan to make the Sheffield region home to McLaren’s second production facility. This project is also testament to their shared mindset and the region’s long association with advanced materials that we are able to draw on and benefit from.

“Over the coming months, the centre will be fitted out with the production equipment we need to become fully operational next year and support hundreds of skilled jobs.”

Also on hand to witness the handover were a range of stakeholders including representatives from Rotherham Borough Council.

The buiding will now undergo several months of fitting out, which will see all the manufacturing equipment installed, including a giant press that will make its way from Germany this summer.

Around 45 McLaren employees are already based at the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), innovating the process for creating lightweight tubs, and, when fully operational, the team will grow to around 200 people.

Related topics: