Bicester Heritage revs up to reach its full occupancy
50th specialist joins ex-RAF site that is now a hub for past, present and future of mobility
BICESTER Heritage, a part of the overall Bicester Motion site, has now welcomed its 50th specialist, meaning this area of the former RAF technical site is now at capacity, creating a thriving ecosystem of classic car, automotive and mobility-themed specialists.
The last four tenants could hardly be more different to the first, with Polestar, NEOM McLaren Formula E, Zapp Electric Vehicles and Zero Petroleum joining a line-up of businesses that includes vintage Bentley specialist Kingsbury Racing Shop, classic Porsche expert Sports Purpose and the Vintage Car Radiator Company.
But Bicester Heritage itself has become a microcosm of the overall Bicester Motion vision; a hub for the past, present and future of mobility.
Founded in 2013 as a response to a changing historic motoring industry, Bicester Heritage is now considered to be the home of historic motoring enterprise in the UK, a sector worth £18.8bn per annum.
Bicester Heritage is held as an exemplar of constructive conservation by Historic England, crucially maintaining the look and feel of the nation’s best-preserved World War II RAF Bomber Station.
In summer 2020, Bicester Motion Heritage completed construction and delivery of The Command Works – the first significant new-build construction in 80 years at the location.
With The Command Works complete and all historic buildings on-site reinvigorated, Bicester Heritage’s vision of hosting 50 specialists could be fulfilled. And just two years after the completion of The Command Works that vision has come to fruition.
The ‘marina’-like feel of Bicester Heritage created many new business opportunities for companies that chose to base themselves there; a customer of Vintage Car Radiator Company may equally be interested in pre-war Bentleys or classic Porsches, for example.
And as these branching connections have grown, more and more businesses from diverse areas of mobility have realised the benefits: Morgan Motor Company and Singer Vehicle Design – both major global automotive brands – now each have a base at Bicester Heritage, as does the governing body of all four-wheel motor racing in the UK: Motorsport UK.
Around 100,000 people visit Bicester Heritage each year.
The mobility industry is at a tipping point, with an estimated £3.7bn investment per year into automotive and mobility solutions, and a predicted £62bn in economic growth from connected and autonomous vehicles by 2030.
The battery market alone in the UK is expected to be worth £9bn by 2040.
In the future, visitors to Bicester Motion will also be able to enjoy the forthcoming Bicester Experience and Wilderness quarters.
Bicester Motion plans to become a top 20 UK visitor attraction.