Partner to help drive expansion of industry site
R&D CLUSTER’
THE owners of a vehicle testing site have brought in a new partner to push forward £500 million of business space.
Horiba Mira signed a joint venture agreement with private equity investor Evans Randall Investors to be the exclusive developer for the next part of the Mira Technology Park.
The first phase of the park is already well established over 850 acres, with tenants including Aston Martin, Bentley, Bosch, Jaguar Land Rover, Toyota, and The London EV Company.
It provides work for more than 1,000 skilled engineers.
Evans Randall Investors will oversee the next phase of development, which will see it expand across neighbouring sites on either side of the A5, near Hinckley.
The project will deliver up to four million sq ft of new space, with a potential value of up to £500 million, encompassing research and development, office and industrial facilities.
A spokesman said planning permission is in place for the northern site, within Leicestershire, where development is well under way and where further construction is planned for later this year and into early 2022.
Horiba Mira still needs planning consent to develop about 150 acres of land on the other southern side of the A5, in Warwickshire.
The main Mira site – a former air base – is used to develop some of the latest vehicle technology, from driverless cars to vehicles that can communicate wirelessly with one another.
Mira said the expansion plans were being fuelled by a revolution in mobility technologies spanning electric vehicle development, clean tech fuels such as hydrogen, emerging autonomous and connected car technologies and the associated growth of AI and robotics.
It said Evans Randall Investors will lead the park’s expansion, solidifying its status as “Europe’s leading automotive R&D cluster” as well helping the park attract businesses.
The team will work alongside Stratford development manager Swanvale Developments.
Mira Technology Park managing director Tim Nathan said: “This new partnership brings together our 75 years of automotive know-how reconfigured to support exciting next-generation automotive businesses alongside the capabilities of Evans Randall Investors to match this sector expertise with property solutions.
“Together we will enable the cluster at MTP to flourish and grow its stature as the pre-eminent location for the future of mobility in Europe.”
Ned Williams, managing director of Evans Randall Investors, said: “Mira Technology Park will continue to be the destination of choice for automotive R&D and we are confident the scale, cluster and flexibility of use and accommodation will be attractive to the wider occupier market.”
£500M SCHEME FOR HIGH-TECH ‘AUTOMOTIVE