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New workshop and showroom for McMurtry Automotive Ltd.

Background

McMurtry Automotive is recognized as a pioneering entity in green engineering and holds significant importance as an employer within Stroud District.

The company has outlined long-term expansion strategies aimed at facilitating the upscaling of production.

The team at MEP has been instructed by McMurtry Automotive to submit a planning application for a scheme which will present an opportunity for the company to consolidate and sustain their engineering operations within the  area.  The proposed scheme enables the company to promptly enhance their engineering capacity and fulfil the substantial demand for their flagship Speiling car. The proposed development will therefore ensure the business’s capability to fulfil orders and sustain its operations within the area.

Site details and constraints

  • Rural location approximately 3.5 km from Wotton-under-Edge.
  • Close to Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
  • The site currently comprises an informal parking area, a disused building and open land

Our role

  • Carrying out a detailed site appraisal identifying site constraints and opportunities.
  • Co-ordinate and manage a consultant team.
  • Formulate a planning strategy.
  • Preparation, submission and monitoring of the planning application.

Outcomes

MEP, working closely with Stroud District Council and Gloucestershire County Council, secured planning permission for the first phase of the expansion of McMurtry Automotives R&D and manufacturing facility at Wotton under Edge. The new buildings have been designed to help facilitate the growth and manufacture of the Speirling electric car, a pioneering and record breaking car which in 2022 set the outright hillclimb record at the Goodwood festival of speed. The Speirling is a precursor to new and innovative technology that is being developed by the company and will assist in moving the country into carbon neutrality.

The new facility is the first phase of development to sustain the company’s growth with the second phase currently in planning and situated next to the Renishaw New Mills site.

The Speirling is the brainchild of the late Sir David McMurtry who is one of Gloucestershire’s innovative giants.

Credit images Roberts Limerick Architects

Other Projects

Millend Lane, Eastington Client: Private
New Mills Building, Renishaw Client: Renishaw PLC
Welches Barn, Stroud Client: Private