History
During the Second World War the site, at South Marston, on the outskirts of Swindon had been used for aircraft production, a role chosen due to the availability of skilled workers from GWR’s Swindon Locomotive Works.
The 370-acre site was purchased by Honda in 1985 who established Honda UK Manufacturing Ltd (often referred to as HUM). Prior to the Swindon plant coming into operation, Honda worked with British Leyland, allowing Honda-based designs to be built in the UK at BL’s factories since 1980.
Production of the Accord began at HUM in 1992, and was followed two years later the Civic. In August 2000 it was announced cars built at Swindon would be exported to Japan for the first time, and two years later vehicles began to be exported to North America.
Regular investment and expansion took place as production of new models began, and the plant manufactured its two millionth vehicle in 2008, in which year it produced over 230,000 cars.
In 2017 a trade deal was agreed between Japan and the European Union to end tariffs on cars imported between the two zones. This cast doubt over the future of HUM as these tariffs formed a significant factor in the original desire to construct a plant in Europe.
In February 2019 Honda announced their intention to close the factory in 2021, with production shifted to Japan, China, and North America. On 30th July 2021 operations at Swindon officially ceased, resulting in the loss of 3,400 jobs, and bringing an end to Honda manufacturing in Europe.
The Explore
This was always going to be a big target after closure was announced a couple of years ago. Although it's only a comparatively modern factory, sites of this scale don't come around particularly often, and it's always nice to see behind the scenes at another slice of British industry.
I was keen to head to Swindon in the weeks immediately after the official closure date, at the end of July, in order to see the place before the inevitable stripping out of machinery. However, due to multiple setbacks I frustratingly didn't get the chance to go for several months. I eventually resorted to a solo mission on a weeknight, though at the last minute I was joined by Prettyvacant.
We somehow spent a total of about nine hours inside, and still only saw a fraction of the factory, largely down to the presence of workers/ security, though it didn’t help that I was bloody tired after travelling up on the coach the previous night, so I had to spend some of the time taking naps. Unsurprisingly a fair bit of machinery has been removed since MR’s report, plus some of the lighting has been turned off, but the areas I was most keen to see: the paint shop, and press shop were still complete.
As it began to get light we made our escape through a fire exit on the ground floor, and we made it out the site with no more bother.
The building from a distance, the simple shapes of the structure disguise its vast scale.
The top level, containing a substation and compressors.
At one end was a boiler house, containing seven Babcock Robey boilers.
The rear of the boilers.
The glass gauges were rather nice for such modern boilers.
Heading down into the main factory we came across an area containing a load of power and free conveyors.
We then headed into the paint shop.
Inside one of the spray booths.
The area was filled with florescent lighting to pick out any imperfections in the paintwork.
Painting robots.
The area containing the ovens.
During the Second World War the site, at South Marston, on the outskirts of Swindon had been used for aircraft production, a role chosen due to the availability of skilled workers from GWR’s Swindon Locomotive Works.
The 370-acre site was purchased by Honda in 1985 who established Honda UK Manufacturing Ltd (often referred to as HUM). Prior to the Swindon plant coming into operation, Honda worked with British Leyland, allowing Honda-based designs to be built in the UK at BL’s factories since 1980.
Production of the Accord began at HUM in 1992, and was followed two years later the Civic. In August 2000 it was announced cars built at Swindon would be exported to Japan for the first time, and two years later vehicles began to be exported to North America.
Regular investment and expansion took place as production of new models began, and the plant manufactured its two millionth vehicle in 2008, in which year it produced over 230,000 cars.
In 2017 a trade deal was agreed between Japan and the European Union to end tariffs on cars imported between the two zones. This cast doubt over the future of HUM as these tariffs formed a significant factor in the original desire to construct a plant in Europe.
In February 2019 Honda announced their intention to close the factory in 2021, with production shifted to Japan, China, and North America. On 30th July 2021 operations at Swindon officially ceased, resulting in the loss of 3,400 jobs, and bringing an end to Honda manufacturing in Europe.
The Explore
This was always going to be a big target after closure was announced a couple of years ago. Although it's only a comparatively modern factory, sites of this scale don't come around particularly often, and it's always nice to see behind the scenes at another slice of British industry.
I was keen to head to Swindon in the weeks immediately after the official closure date, at the end of July, in order to see the place before the inevitable stripping out of machinery. However, due to multiple setbacks I frustratingly didn't get the chance to go for several months. I eventually resorted to a solo mission on a weeknight, though at the last minute I was joined by Prettyvacant.
We somehow spent a total of about nine hours inside, and still only saw a fraction of the factory, largely down to the presence of workers/ security, though it didn’t help that I was bloody tired after travelling up on the coach the previous night, so I had to spend some of the time taking naps. Unsurprisingly a fair bit of machinery has been removed since MR’s report, plus some of the lighting has been turned off, but the areas I was most keen to see: the paint shop, and press shop were still complete.
As it began to get light we made our escape through a fire exit on the ground floor, and we made it out the site with no more bother.
The building from a distance, the simple shapes of the structure disguise its vast scale.
The top level, containing a substation and compressors.
At one end was a boiler house, containing seven Babcock Robey boilers.
The rear of the boilers.
The glass gauges were rather nice for such modern boilers.
Heading down into the main factory we came across an area containing a load of power and free conveyors.
We then headed into the paint shop.
Inside one of the spray booths.
The area was filled with florescent lighting to pick out any imperfections in the paintwork.
Painting robots.
The area containing the ovens.
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