A former Rolls-Royce factory site in its Midlands heartland could be transformed into classic car and bike workshops and a heritage visitor centre.
Derby City Council has been asked to consider plans to turn the company’s Light Alloy Foundry, in Osmaston Road, into a heritage vehicle attraction and skills training centre.
Plans drawn up by Berkshire-based JSA Architects say the scheme would transfer “knowledge from skilled tradespeople to younger generations” by acting as a hub for apprenticeships.
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They say workshop space would be rented out to businesses involved in the heritage motor industry including upholsterers, engine builders, electricians and other small manufacturers or fabricators.
If it gets the go-ahead it could also create 120 jobs and contribute to the city’s tourism economy.
The four-and-a-half acre site is currently used as a base for Rolls-Royce’s heritage centre, which is set to move onto the company’s main campus in the city.
That would free up the space for Great Northern Classics, a skills training company for the classic car industry, which hopes to take over the site.
It attempted to develop the former Aida Bliss building in Chester Green in 2019, but Derby City Council decided the land would be better used for affordable housing.
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Planning documents say Northern Classics would directly employ up to eight apprentices a years, and there would be space for third-party apprentices as well.
They say the site would allow people who own classic cars to store them on the site and show them off to visitors in a “secure area”, with other installations also providing attractions to visitors.
Great Northern Classics founder Shaun Matthews said the idea behind the project was to help create a new generation of engineers with the skills to work on old vehicles.
He said: “The real reason we are doing this is skills retention.
“We’re not making a few bob on old cars, I really care about engineering skills. A lot of these skills are transferable.
It will be working on all things classic – classic cars, classic bikes.”
He said he hoped to have small businesses from the area setting up shop on the site.
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He said: “Derby is perfect for a million and one reasons.
“One of the main ones is location – it’s got a superb network of engineering.
“There are loads of small engineering businesses in the East Midlands. By bringing them all into one place, they get better quality premises and the marketing of being together.
“In the middle of it all we can run an apprenticeship school which can share apprentices between them.
“Twenty or 30 years ago the person who had a classic car tended to be a grease monkey who would have it on the drive.
“People who are getting classic vehicles these days are more inclined to have someone else do that.
“People would pay commercial rates to store their cars here. That would give us the revenue to pay for the training school.
“People can see what we’re doing, they can look into the workshops and if they want to speak to someone about a particular opportunity they can do so.”
He said it would give Rolls-Royce the opportunity to move its heritage centre to its main campus in Sinfin, so its staff would find it easier to get hands-on experience with vehicles.