Help
Silverstone Park celebrates first decade with developer MEPC
| Author: Carl McKellar | Published: 3rd October 2023 09:35 |
Silverstone Park has this week celebrated its tenth anniversary under the management of MEPC.
The technology and business park, on the Buckinghamshire-Northamptonshire border adjacent to the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit, was acquired by asset manager and developer MEPC from the British Racing Drivers’ Club in September 2013.
Under MEPC’s management, the number of companies located there has since grown from around 50 to more than 90 – the majority of them operating in advanced engineering and manufacturing, electronics and software development.
The tech companies at Silverstone Park are at the cutting edge and growing in sectors such as aerospace, agritech, automotive, defence, energy, marine, medical devices, motorsport, scientific research, security and space.
As a result, approximately 1,500 people are in employment at Silverstone Park – some five times more compared to a decade ago – making the estate a successful place for job creation in the Silverstone Technology Cluster region.
Commercial property currently constructed at Silverstone Park totals 961,000 sq ft, of which almost two thirds (673,507 sq ft) has been built by MEPC.
Planning consent for MEPC to proceed with a further 1.5m sq ft of commercial development has already been granted.
To coincide with the ten-year anniversary, a new Silverstone-Park.com website has also been launched this week.
MEPC’s Chris Kimber-Nickelson, Commercial Director at Silverstone Park, commented: “When MEPC embarked on this journey, we understood the importance of creating more than just office buildings and warehouses.
“We envisioned a place where innovation would flourish, where businesses would thrive, and where collaboration would be at the heart of it all. Over the past ten years, MEPC has transformed Silverstone Park into a shining example of what can be achieved when vision and dedication converge.
“MEPC's unwavering dedication to the local community is evident in the partnerships and initiatives that have flourished here. This technology and business park has not only created job opportunities but has also actively engaged with local schools, charities, and organisations, ensuring that the benefits of its success are shared with the wider community.”
MEPC is the commercial property development and asset management arm of Federated Hermes.
Chris Taylor, CEO Real Estate, Federated Hermes said: “Our vision for Silverstone Park when we purchased it in 2013 was to build on the history, heritage and global reputation of the Silverstone Circuit, creating a home for engineering, innovation and business development beyond the world of motorsport.
“Global capital increasingly gravitates to best talent and we believe that the unique high performance technologies associated with motorsport plays to this theme, which is attractive to growth sectors of the economy, such as healthcare and energy transition.
“This created an opportunity for us to replicate the success of our Milton Park life science cluster near Oxford, by creating a destination for these industries within the Oxford-Cambridge ‘technology arc’.
“As our development partner, MEPC has played an intrinsic role in turning our vision into a reality over the last decade and today Silverstone is a state-of-the-art environment for high-tech companies in the UK.”
Looking ahead, Chris Kimber-Nickelson added: “The next ten years hold immense promise and potential for Silverstone Park. The challenges we face today – be they economic, environmental, or technological – will require innovative solutions, and this place is perfectly poised to continue leading the way.”
He also said that MEPC’s rapid expansion of the track at the world-class Porsche Experience Centre – on land on the opposite side of the Silverstone Circuit – was of particular satisfaction.
Chris reflected: “A lot of people forget we did that and indeed that the land there belongs to Silverstone Park. The Porsche track extension was fundamental to the deal happening in the first place, in convincing the BRDC and Porsche that we were going to deliver immediately.”
Below are some of the milestones achieved by MEPC at Silverstone Park during its first ten years managing the estate:
- 2014: Track extension at the Porsche Experience Centre
- 2015: First industrial property built by MEPC at Silverstone Park completes
- 2016: Completion of 125,000 ‘Phase 1’ industrial development
- 2016: MEPC & Hexagon open UK’s only dedicated sub-contract inspection facility
- 2016: Launch of Silverstone Technology Cluster organisation (Silverstone Park is a founding member)
- 2017: Silverstone Park awarded ‘Enterprise Zone’ status by UK government
- 2017: Three-year project to supply 21 MVA electric power to site completes
- 2019: Olympic-standard sports engineering hub opens at Silverstone Park
- 2019: Completion of six-year underground utilities upgrade to site
- 2020: 258,000 sq ft Phase 2 development completes as new Digital Manufacturing Centre becomes fourth specialist engineering facility on site
- 2022: Largest industrial property constructed yet by MEPC at Silverstone Park part of 260,000 sq ft Phase 3 development
- 2022: Silverstone Park wins Motorsport Industry Association’s ‘Services to Industry’ award
Report this article as inappropriate
Comments
You need to log in before you can do that! It's only a quick registration process to join the AMA network and completely free.
Loading...
Help