Hundreds of new jobs to be created as McLaren races into South Yorkshire with £50m investment

McLaren Automotive, the luxury, high-performance sports car manufacturer, has launched a partnership with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in Rotherham.

In a £50m investment, the launch of a purpose-built production facility located next the the AMRC is expected to create up to 200 jobs and inject £100m into the Sheffield City Region economy.

The AMRC will use its expertise to develop advanced manufacturing processes that will allow McLaren Automotive to produce the chassis for its future sports cars.

The new processes will be proven at the AMRC, in readiness to transfer them to a full-scale manufacturing environment inside McLaren Automotive’s new Composites Technology Centre in Sheffield.

Construction work is expected to start in early 2017, with full production of advanced carbon fibre chassis by 2020.

McLaren Automotive’s centre will host more than 200 hi-tech automotive jobs and will be in the vicinity of the AMRC’s hi-tech Factory 2050 development; where a new Lightweighting Centre will also be built to house the AMRC’s existing Composite Centre.

Prof Keith Ridgway CBE, AMRC Executive Dean, said: “This is a tremendous piece of news for the Sheffield City Region and a boost for its future as the UK’s centre for advanced manufacturing.

“In many respects it represents a new model that repositions manufacturing in Sheffield, taking it on from coal and steel to high performance components for the automotive, as well as the aerospace, sector.

“We will be working with McLaren Automotive on the construction of the carbon fibre chassis and further research, and we are talking with the supply chain. It is our ambition that supply chain companies will start to build factories here to supply the chassis plant.”

The University of Sheffield, Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, Sheffield City Council and its inward investment arm, Creative Sheffield, all played roles in securing the deal.

The University’s on-going investments in facilities and developing capabilities had been a catalyst to attract McLaren.

Prof Ridgway added: “The LEP, Creative Sheffield and the Council were very supportive. It was probably the best coordinated activity we have seen and enabled us to put together a strong case for McLaren to come here.

“For the AMRC this is confirmation of the growing expertise of our composites research team and their ability to meet the needs of industrial partners.