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HRH Princess Royal opens new Bentley Research and Development Centre
24th October 2016
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal today visited the Bentley Motors headquarters in Crewe to open a new research and development centre - 25 Pyms Lane – which is home to more than 400 Bentley engineers.
The new building covers 7,200 square metres over four storeys and was constructed in just seven months. The building marks the first stage of Bentley’s headquarter expansion which continues to develop the site as an industry-leading, modern, efficient manufacturing facility.
Commenting on the visit, Wolfgang Dürheimer, Bentley Chairman and CEO, said:
“Our research and development centre, 25 Pyms Lane, is where a new generation of Bentleys will be developed, which will continue our commitment to luxury, performance, quality and engineering excellence.
“We are honoured that we could welcome Her Royal Highness once again to our expanding headquarters, not just to celebrate the continued evolution of our site, but to demonstrate first-hand the skill of our engineers, craftspeople and trainees here in Crewe.”
Before unveiling a plaque to officially open the new building, The Princess Royal visited Bentley’s flagship showroom, CW1 House, and then toured the main production facility where the company’s four model lines, Bentayga, Continental, Flying Spur and Mulsanne are handcrafted.
Her Royal Highness also met both apprentices and colleagues working on bespoke training islands in wood and leather, learning more about Bentley’s innovative approach to training young people and continuously improving the skills of colleagues in all areas of the business.
Bentley’s manufacturing apprenticeship programme has recently received national recognition by The Princess Royal herself, being named outstanding by the inaugural Princess Royal Training Awards, created to recognise learning and skills development in industry. Her Royal Highness will host the Awards ceremony at St James’s Palace in November.