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The UK motorsport industry has for the past number of years bucked the downward trend of manufacturing and other low skilled employment sectors.
This has been good news for Northamptonshire, being at the heart of ‘Motorsport Valley’ and this positive story is continuing and spreading across the County to Wellingborough, says commercial property agent Prop-Search.
From humble beginnings, just over 30 years in a small industrial unit on the Silverstone Racing circuit, Paul Crosby - a former race engineer for the March Formula 1 team - started trading as Crosby Composites supplying glass fibre wet lay panels to the motorsport industry. Since then the company has grown significantly, now occupying some 25,000 sq ft in two facilities at Brackley, employing 90 people and supplying high quality carbon fibre components for a range of clients including major Formula 1 teams.
Paul Field, Managing Director of Crosby Composites, said: “Our existing buildings had become full to capacity which led to a search of the Midlands for additional premises. As well as providing a suitable property, Wellingborough offers a mix of skilled labour and candidates that we will train to a high level within the composite industry.”
The company has just completed on the purchase of the former GEC Siemens building on Dennington Industrial Estate. The property offers 63,000 sq ft on 3.83 acres and was acquired through Prop-Search, acting on behalf of insurance giant Aviva.
Simon Toseland, a Director at Prop-Search, said: “I am delighted that we managed to secure Crosby Composites for Wellingborough. The former Siemens building was too low for modern day warehousing but is ideal for manufacture. This combined with the town’s growth plans and future employment pool, means that Crosby - and other businesses - can take a long term view of the location, offering job security and opportunity for local residents.”
Paul Field added: “As well as having a strong customer base within the automotive industry for customers such as Mercedes F1, Red Bull F1, McLaren F1 and Aston Martin, we also trade within the aerospace, sports and medical sectors.”
Crosby Composites believes it will employ an additional 150 people at the new site over the next five years. The company runs its own in-house training programmes and will start recruiting soon.
The Borough Council of Wellingborough granted a change of use of the property to accommodate the use of business and is delighted to welcome a high performance technology manufacturer to the town.
Councillor Peter Morrall, Chairman of the Planning Committee, said: “This is excellent news for our Borough and we unanimously supported the company’s planning application.”
“Wellingborough is growing, with major developments including that £500 million Stanton Cross project underway. More and more businesses are seeing that out Borough has to offer and are choosing to set up here. With our low house prices, excellent transport links and strong development plans, Wellingborough is going from strength to strength.”
Crosby Composites - with the help of the Prop-Search building surveying team - will shortly commence with a bespoke fit-out of its new Wellingborough facility to allow it to provide all composite needs, from concept to final component. This will include CAD stations for design and conceptual work, CNC machines for tooling block patterns, aluminium moulds and machining components; and laminating, and trim and fitting departments.