Car parts manufacturer Gestamp Tallent to relocate to new Four Ashes site in £70m investment

Gestamp Tallent's move to the state-of-the-art stamping plant to be built at the Bericote Four Ashes site in South Staffordshire will secure the existing 800 jobs at the plant in Wolverhampton Road, Cannock.

Part of the existing facilities in Cannock may be retained to accommodate future training and development requirements.

Spanish engineering group Gestamp bought the former ThyssenKrupp Tallent plant, formerly Tallent Automotive and Albion Pressed Metal, in 2011.

Plans are for production of car chassis and body parts to start at the 550,000 sq ft Four Ashes site before the end of 2017 and the project has been supported by Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership, Staffordshire County Council, Cannock Chase District Council and the Department for International Trade.

Gestamp country manager in the UK, Ian Middleton, who has an office at Cannock, said: "We have been working on this project for a long time. The UK is one of Gestamp top five global markets since the beginning of our operations here in 2011.

"Our company is committed to helping our customers in key aspects such as quality, safety and lightweight innovations, therefore Gestamp wants its facilities to utilise the most modern stamping technologies available to fulfil its objectives."

Mr Middleton said Gestamp was taking a 25-year lease on the new factory, which is being developed by Bericote Properties and funded by Tritax.

"If there was a site of this scale or size available in Cannock we would have stayed in the district," said Mr Middleton, who praised Cannock Chase MP Amanda Milling and Cannock Chase District Council for their "fantastic" support and efforts to keep the business in the local area.

"We were keen to stay within commutable distance to ensure we could retain our workforce in the area," he explained.

"Gestamp has modern purpose-built plants around the world and we wanted the same in the UK.

The new plant will utilise conventional stamping and the new technique of hot stamping with a new transfer servo press line. The annual turnover of the new plant will eventually top £140 million per year.

The first staff will move there by the end of 2017 and there will be a phased transfer.

"There will be new jobs in the longer term as the new site gives us the opportunity to win new business and customers. We will have the space and equipment to grow there," added Mr Middleton.

Gestamp Tallent takes on apprentices each year and has recently added a new intake of 15 at Cannock.

"We are working with Cannock Chase Council to continue to use on of the units in Cannock to develop a unique automotive training centre for Gestamp Tallent," he explained.

Gestamp Tallent's main automotive customers are BMW, Honda, Jagur Land Rover , Nissan-Renault and Toyota.

The 52-acre Bericote Four Ashes site has benefited from new access improvements off the A449 by Staffordshire County Council in a project funded through the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire LEP as part of the Government's Local Growth Fund.

County council leader Councillor Philip Atkins said: "Gestamp's expansion in Staffordshire is great news for the county economy and for the country. This is a major decision by a Spanish company and is a demonstration of investor confidence in the UK and in particular Staffordshire and the West Midlands. This will lead to local job creation and retention as Gestamp is a thriving company in one of our key economic sectors.

"We have worked hard with colleagues at the LEP and the two district councils to enable the company to relocate within the county and been able to present a premium site ready for development with many excellent attributes. Following the allocation of £2 million through the Local Growth Fund, the county council has created an access road to the site and work will now take place to improve the trunk road junction, linking to the M6 and M54."

LEP chairman David Frost added: "This is excellent news for our area, and further proof that Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire is a great location for businesses to grow and flourish – and it is a big vote of confidence in the UK economy.

"This announcement is the culmination of months of hard work by the local Gestamp management and ourselves to identify the right location for Gestamp to expand, retaining this important business in the Staffordshire area, facilitating the move and ensuring that local jobs are safeguarded."

South Staffordshire District Council leader Councillor Brian Edwards said: "We have been working hard with our partners to support the company in making this move and so it is rewarding to see the announcement made today. What is important is that Gestamp is staying in Staffordshire and retaining a local workforce. South Staffordshire is playing its part in driving the county and wider economy with major international businesses deciding to locate here."

The LEP invested £2m of its funding from the Government's Local Growth Fund in opening up the Four Ashes site for industrial development, working with Bericote Properties and Staffordshire County Council.

The Gestamp group, which specialises in the design, development and manufacture of metal automotive components, has already invested more than £180 million in its six UK production plants since 2011 including over £30 million in the existing Cannock factory. The other plants are in Newcastle, Washington, Aycliffe, Llanelli and Fareham and it has a total workforce of 3,600 in the country.