The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire July 2014 Edition | Page 14

SPOTLIGHT ON MALMESBURY

THE CHANGING FACE OF MALMESBURY Events coming up
Malmesbury is known to be the oldest continually inhabited town
in Malmesbury
in England. It was created around 880 AD by charter from Alfred
the Great and was once the site of an Iron Age fort.
Traditionally a market town serving the rural area of north west
Wiltshire, farming has been the main industry. However, with its
foot firmly in the 21st Century Malmesbury is developing into a
real hive of industry from engineering, to the creative industries
and sustainability.
The key business driving change to the town is one of the
UK’s most prominent engineering firms - Dyson. Malmesbury
is home to Dyson’s UK headquarters and currently employs
over 1,600 people, with plans underway to double its research
site in the town. A £250m expansion has been approved by
Wiltshire Council to develop Dyson’s research and development
facilities. This will see the current headquarters double in size
with an estimated 3,000 new jobs created in Malmesbury over
the next 10 years. Dyson is already working with universities to
find 400 new engineers.
The new space will be used to expand its motor electronic
research projects, increase their experimentation into noisecancelling acoustic technologies and develop their robotics and
Dyson vision projects.
James Dyson said: “It is a relief to finally expand our campus
here in Malmesbury, so we can ramp up our research into
robotics, motors, material science and aero acoustics. We are
grateful for the strong support shown by Wiltshire Council.
“The new campus will allow us to increase collaboration
with Britain’s world-class universities, but the plan is of course

reliant on action being taken to address Britain’s yawning
shortage of engineers.”
Another business changing the face of Malmesbury is
Waitrose. The supermarket chain is currently building a
purpose-built foodstore in the town covering 27,000 sq ft,
with 200 car parking spaces. Waitrose is to open its doors to
customers for the first time on 7 August creating 170 new
jobs in the town. All employees have become partners in the
John Lewis Partnership, the UK’s largest and oldest example of
employee ownership.

WOMAD
24-27 July
Charlton Park
WOMAD celebrates the world of music, arts and dance.
The event was founded by Wiltshire resident and British
progressive rock musician Peter Gabriel in 1980.

Malmesbury Kite Festival
2-3 August 10am-5pm
The Wortheys
Now in its fifth year Malmesbury Kite Festival attracts some
of the top kite flyers in the UK and Europe. There will be
public competitions and opportunities to learn to fly a kite.
For more information visit:
www.malmesbury.com/malmesbury-kite-festival

Malmesbury Cinema
To make the most of Malmesbury’s historic Town Hall
building Movies@Malmesbury was set up with regular
showings throughout the year. To view the latest cinema
listings visit: www.malmesbury.gov.uk

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THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2014