Meggitt breaks ground at new £130m ‘super-site’ at Ansty Park

Above: Tony Wood, Meggitt CEO and Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, join Meggitt apprentices and Mark Gillett, third generation Meggitt employee, to celebrate the start of construction.

Meggitt Chief Executive Tony Wood, and Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street, led a ground breaking ceremony last Friday at the Ansty Park site at an event attended by Meggitt employees, regional organisations and local dignitaries.

The project will provide a base for up to 1,000 employees and combines a range of operations within a world-class aerospace engineering and technology environment.  It will also serve as the new home for Meggitt’s international headquarters.

Above: Artistic impression of the new £130m ‘super-site’ at Ansty Park.

It is the largest of a number of global infrastructure investments by Meggitt as it accelerates growth and will be a hub for next-generation aerospace innovation and R&D, as well as a catalyst for world-class operational performance.

Meggitt also introduced its new Corporate Apprenticeship Programme on Friday, which will ensure that it continues to nurture the skills and talent to meet future needs.  Meggitt apprentices will build skills and expertise in various aspects of the company’s operations. The programme includes training in partnership with the Manufacturing Technology Centre. The first cohort of 20 apprentices joins the organisation this summer.

Tony Wood, Meggitt Chief Executive, said: “Today marks another major advance in the development of Meggitt’s global engineering and manufacturing capability.  It is also a significant investment in the long-term future of Meggitt both here in the Midlands and in the UK.”

“The Ansty Park super-site, coupled with our investment in the next generation of talent through our new apprenticeship programme, will ensure that Meggitt continues to deliver world class innovation, meeting the current and future needs of our customers worldwide.”

Andy Street, Mayor of West Midlands, said: “This is a hugely exciting moment as Meggitt takes the first steps to creating its new base here in the West Midlands.”

“The investment being made by Meggitt in the West Midlands is a huge vote of confidence in the region’s economy and the UK manufacturing sector.”

“For me, the most exciting aspect is the apprenticeship programme. This is a fantastic initiative giving young people the opportunity to develop in a world-class manufacturing environment while helping the company invest in people to achieve the skills they need to compete internationally.”

Building work will begin imminently and the super-site is due to become operational toward the end of 2019.

International law firm Gowling WLG advised Meggitt plc on the acquisition and development of its proposed new £130 million supersite in the West Midlands.

Mike Trainer, real estate partner at Gowling WLG, together with director Andrew Bennett, led a team that advised the aerospace business on both the land acquisition and the development of the new facility. The firm is a regular advisor to Meggitt and used its experience of advising developers, funders and corporate occupiers on large commercial development projects throughout the UK.

Mike said: "Meggitt has ambitious plans and is prepared to make this substantial investment towards achieving them, and we worked closely with the business to navigate the various elements of this deal. This is another successful deal that demonstrates our ability to provide first-class real estate advice to corporate occupiers."

Jonathan Jones, Group Property Director at Meggitt, said: “We want to create a facility 'fit for the future' and we’re grateful for the expertise and initiative of the Gowling WLG team, which has ensured that we have agreements in place to take steps towards achieving this. There were multiple aspects to this deal that needed a legal team experienced in developments such as this. We are now building the foundations of our new supersite."

The Gowling WLG team was Mike, Andrew and real estate associate Tammy Didehban, construction partner Richard Green with senior associate Victoria Smith and director Chris Nyland on tax.

Headquartered in the United Kingdom, Meggitt plc operates in North America, Europe and Asia. Known for its specialised extreme environment engineering, Meggitt specialises in aerospace, defence and energy, employing more than 11,000 people at over 40 manufacturing facilities and regional offices worldwide.