Booming games firm planning new factory
WARHAMMER MAKER WANTS TO EXPAND PRODUCTION AT SITE
WARGAMING giant Games Workshop wants to build a new Nottingham factory as it plans years of expansion to keep up with booming customer demand.
The company behind the Warhammer miniatures phenomenon has unveiled plans to build a new manufacturing facility to continue its impressive growth.
The globally dominant tabletop games firm, which made £94.5million profit in the six months up to November 2023, said it will be investing to grow its complex on Willow Road, Lenton, over the next several years. More than 350 staff currently work around the clock at the site’s three existing factories to produce millions of the popular figures, but even that is now not enough to meet demand according to the company.
Games Workshop plans to open its fourth factory on land at the rear of its headquarters in spring 2026, before relocating its packing operations to the new facility.
Moving these operations out of factories along Willow Road would then create space to expand its tooling and injection moulding operations, enabling production to ramp up.
Over the next five or more years there will be significant investment in machinery and infrastructure, as well as the creation of new manufacturing jobs, according to planning documents submitted by the business.
“At this point in time the number of jobs and their phasing cannot be quantified,” the business told Nottingham City Council.
A vacant building will have to be demolished to allow for the new factory to take its place, which Games Workshop’s planning agent said would happen “as soon as possible in
2024”. The factory’s adjoined offices would have employee changing facilities, a canteen, and a training room.
East Midlands Chamber, which supports and champions the region’s businesses, warmly welcomed the prospect of investment into one of Nottinghamshire’s largest companies. “If expansion of manufacturing facilities and the additional space gained results in growth of productivity then that’s a positive,” the chamber’s head of special projects Richard Blackmore said.
“If the investment Games Workshop has talked of over the next few years does mean new jobs, as they’ve said, then that’s something I welcome too.”
The planning application is pending consideration by Nottingham City Council. Games Workshop has been approached by the Post for comment.