McLaren plans dominance in aerospace

Sportscar maker to build new facility to enable it to continue branching out into other areas

Sportscar maker McLaren has applied for planning permission to build a new Applied Technology Centre on the grounds of its site in Woking as it looks to continue branching out into other sectors.

Ron Dennis, executive chairman of the company, said the success of its existing Applied Technology Centre meant that it needed to upgrade its facilities. He said: “McLaren isn't only about racing cars and sports cars. We're now seeing very exciting developments from McLaren Applied Technologies, which has grown rapidly and profitably over the last few years.”

The Applied Technologies group develops applications for the health, aerospace and sports sectors. Innovations so far include a simulation programme to improve the flow of aircraft taxiing at Heathrow airport, a specialised road bike for British cyclist Mark Cavendish and devices for the remote monitoring of hospital patients.

In order to continue this work, McLaren wants to build a new facility, roughly the same size as the existing Applied Technology Centre.

Dennis added: “McLaren aims to do its bit to support the rebalancing of the UK economy. We believe passionately in the importance of making things, of manufacturing high-tech, state-of-the-art, premium products.”

Prime Minister David Cameron visited the Woking site earlier this week. He said that McLaren that the success of the company had been based on its strong research and development skills. “It's all of that intellectual property that is going to lead to so many other great businesses in the future.”

Cameron added: “We can be proud British engineering is not just dominating Formula One, but actually changing the world.”