Electric vehicle charging company moves to Milton Keynes

The UK’s biggest electric vehicle charging company, BP Chargemaster, is moving its national headquarters to Milton Keynes.

MKDP was established by Milton Keynes Council in 2013 to facilitate the continued growth and economic success of the city by selling and developing its land assets via third party developers and investors.

Work will begin on the new HQ this summer and is due to be completed by Christmas this year. The new facility will house the company’s office and manufacturing facilities, bringing 150 hi-tech jobs to Milton Keynes. MKDP has awarded the contract to build the scheme to Milton Keynes-based Parkway Construction MK.

The two-storey 45,000ft² headquarters will be roughly triple the size of its existing facilities, enabling the business to develop in line with the fast-growing electric vehicle market.

MKDP development director, Matthew Green, said: “It’s a great testament to Milton Keynes’ reputation as a magnet for forward-thinking businesses of the future that BP Chargemaster chose to be based here.

“It is also an endorsement of our new strategic direction that, following a rigorous procurement process, BP decided to deal directly with MKDP rather than through a third party. This new strategy of developing our commercial land ourselves gives MKDP flexibility and the opportunity to create even greater value combined with a sustainable, long-term income stream for Milton Keynes Council.”

David Martell, chief executive of BP Chargemaster, said: “We are very excited to be moving to Milton Keynes – undoubtedly the electric vehicle capital of the country – and to much larger premises that will enable our next phase of expansion and growth of our business. As well as increased head office space, we will be tripling the size of our manufacturing facility, allowing us to significantly expand our production capacity.”

As of March 2019, MKDP can sustainably service the £32 million due to the Council that was part of its formation. Having exceeded its core financial objectives, MKDP is evolving and this transaction marks an important shift to develop its commercial land itself rather than through third parties.

Having already facilitated over 1,000,000ft² of commercial space through land sales to developers, MKDP currently has 74 developable acres of commercial land remaining, over half of the portfolio it was originally given by the Council, available for its own development. It will continue to work with third party developers on its residential portfolio.

MKDP www.mkdp.org.uk