3 minute read - 10th April 2025
Rolls-Royce marks next phase of £300m factory expansion
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has marked the official start of above-ground construction for its 40,000 square metre expansion, with its chief executive signing the first steel column erected on the company’s extension site at Goodwood.
This £300m extension represents the single largest injection of capital since the plant opened on January 1, 2003. At that time, it employed around 300 people and produced just one motor car a day. Although the Goodwood manufacturing plant has undergone significant internal changes over the past 20 years, the building itself has remained largely unchanged, while staff numbers have since increased more than eightfold, and the marque now produces up to 28 motor cars a day.
More than 2,500 people are employed at Goodwood, with around 7,500 people in the company’s wider UK supply chain. In 2023, an independent study by the London School of Economics (LSE) showed that Rolls-Royce Motor Cars contributes around half a billion pounds to the UK economy every year, as a leading representative of UK PLC.
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Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has marked the next phase of its £300m expansion investment with above-ground construction now underway / Picture: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The signed steel column is the first of 437 that will form the internal framework of the new 40,000 square metre (430,500 sq ft) facility, together with beams and other supporting members. The columns vary in size according to their location and function, but typically stand 12-13m (c. 40 feet) high. The finished framework will be clad with sustainable materials, carefully selected for their longevity, low environmental impact, aesthetic value and ability to blend in with the surrounding landscape.
Like the existing manufacturing plant, the new building will have a living roof, providing an important new habitat for birds and insects. It will also generate its own renewable energy, using air-source heat pumps for low-level heating and a bio-solar roof to produce electricity.
Once complete, the building will house a new Exterior Surface Finish Centre (paint shop), together with a range of new equipment and dedicated areas for bespoke and coachbuild commissions and the production of its new generation of battery-electric motor cars.
The investment to extend the Goodwood site will enable Rolls-Royce to expand its bespoke and coachbuild capabilities / Picture: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
The marque’s 2024 performance saw a record year for bespoke builds, and the third-best sales result in the company’s history. Rolls-Royce Bespoke is a service that allows customers to customise their Rolls-Royce cars. Bespoke content value increased 10% on average per motor car year-on-year, reaching the highest level in the company’s history.
Chris Brownridge, chief executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said: “Today’s signing ceremony is an important symbolic moment for this landmark project. We wanted to formally mark the start of construction on the main building, which is so central to our future, and to the enormous economic contribution Rolls-Royce Motor Cars makes to the local, regional and national economies. The work will continue at pace, with a target to complete the structure within the next nine months; we can then move on to fitting-out and installing the new equipment and facilities we need to support our rapidly growing bespoke activities, complex coachbuild commissions and growing portfolio of battery-electric motor cars.”
Chris Brownridge, chief executive of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, marked the official start of above-ground construction by signing the first steel column erected on the company’s extension site at Goodwood / Picture: Rolls-Royce Motor Cars
