A decision has been made on one of £4 billion company Games Workshop’s plans to expand and transform its Nottingham headquarters. The manufacturer of the globally popular Warhammer 40,000 miniatures has been given the nod by Nottingham City Council to carry out another part of the expansion of its Lenton Lane business complex in the city.
On December 31, city officials approved the major city employer’s proposals for a new “upgraded and enhanced” paint plant to be set up at Unit 18 of Easter Park, a business park across the road from the firm’s HQ. The enhanced facility will help the incredibly successful firm to produce the paint sets that hobbyists use to decorate their plastic figures of fantasy soldiers, monsters and aliens.
Games Workshop’s planners explained the company will need to construct an area for its machinery in the building, including a 3000-litre tank for paint, fit new windows, doors, and more air conditioning units, as well as creating a shelter for workers. Planning agents said the vast paint vat and other machinery would be hidden behind a large 2.4m gate and security fencing and that waste water would be disposed of at a licensed site.
The business explained the building’s offices were currently in use, but said the industrial space inside was vacant. There are currently 13 people working inside the industrial unit, but planning documents suggest the new facility will result in 37 more people working from the site.
City council planning officers found that while the new facilities were “utilitarian in appearance”, they would not result in the industrial park becoming cluttered or have an otherwise negative impact on the area. They added the relatively small amount of change planned by Games Workshop, as well as the distance from any homes, meant no neighbouring residents would be impacted by the proposals.
The new paint production facility is just part of the company’s multi-year expansion plan. Games Workshop, which is estimated to have made a £120 million profit in the six months up to December and recently became one of the largest companies on London’s Stock Exchange, recently received planning permission to build a new factory in Lenton.
The land where the new £9 million facility will be built off Willow Road
(Image: Joseph Raynor/ Reach PLC)
The new £9 million facility will replace the city council’s former transport depot on Willow Road. More than 350 staff currently work around the clock at the site’s three existing factories to produce millions of the figures every year, but the ever-growing and global demand for its miniatures is outstripping production.
Games Workshop previously stated it would be heavily investing to grow its complex on Willow Road, Lenton, over the next several years. Over the next five or more years there will be significant investment in machinery and infrastructure, as well as the creation of new manufacturing jobs, according to planning documents submitted by the business.