Rolls-Royce agrees £250m 200 Acre Manufacturing Hub With Opus Land & Manse

Rolls-Royce has agreed a tie-up with Manse and Opus Land to build out a £250m, 200-acre manufacturing hub on its land near Coventry. Part owned by Palmer Capital, Opus Land and Manse have been appointed to deliver more than 2m sq/ft of space in one of the largest UK manufacturing deals to date.

The site is to the south of Ansty Park, a 1.5m sq ft technology hub that has been attracting automotive and aeronautical companies, and is anchored by the Manufacturing Technology Centre. The plan is to develop a scheme, obtain planning and build out for occupiers. Manse formed a relationship with Rolls-Royce through the regeneration of its former works in East Kilbride.

Richard Smith, Managing Partner at Opus Land, said: “The reason why it’s very different is because it’s very new. If we go back to Margaret Thatcher’s time, there was very much a move to take manufacturing out of the UK. It was felt that it was no longer important – that was a very poor mistake. With the resurgence of Jaguar Land Rover, we have a demand for manufacturing, which is totally different to doing logistics space, because you are not just building a lofty warehouse that you rack out.”

David Mitchell, managing partner at Manse, said: “This is a regeneration opportunity of a major manufacturing facility, that has not come to the end of its life because Rolls-Royce is still going to be on site and very active. The company is releasing much needed land where there is pent up demand for manufacturing accommodation. Our role is to promote this site through planning but also to ensure any occupiers that come along are looked after and potentially we will build buildings or sell plots to them.”