McLaren opens composites production facility in Sheffield

Based alongside the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) on the border of Sheffield and Rotherham, the McLaren Composites Technology Centre (MCTC) is the firm’s first purpose-built facility beyond its campus in Woking and is part of an effort to cement its status as a world-leader in lightweight materials technology.

Officially opened by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince of Bahrain, the facility will help McLaren deliver on its so-called Track25 business plan that will see it invest £1.2bn in research and development to deliver 18 new cars or derivatives by the end of 2025.

Once fully operational in 2020, the centre will produce carbon fibre chassis that will be sent to the McLaren Production Centre (MPC) in Woking for hand assembly into cars.

The facility is expected to create more than 200 jobs and provide an estimated £100m GVA benefit to the local economy by 2028. McLaren claims that in-sourcing of the manufacture of the carbon fibre chassis will increase the average percentage (by value) of a McLaren car sourced in the UK by around eight per cent from its current average of around 50 per cent.