Longbridge plant

Longbridge plant is an industrial complex in Longbridge, Birmingham, England, currently leased by SAIC as a research and development facility for its MG Motor subsidiary. Vehicle assembly ended in 2016. Opened in 1905, by the late 1960s Longbridge employed around 25,000 workers, building cars including the original Mini. In the Second World War, the main plant produced munitions and tank parts, while the nearby East Works of Austin Aero Ltd at Cofton Hackett produced Short Stirling and Hawker Hurricane aircraft. Since the collapse of MG Rover in 2005, part of the site has been redeveloped for commercial and residential use. The original site and factory development was undertaken by Birmingham-based copper-plate printers White and Pike Ltd. Looking to consolidate a number of small sites around Birmingham, and diversify into new areas, they chose a series of 20 agricultural fields in Northfield eight miles to the south of the city on the Bristol Road at Longbridge. The site was bounded by Lickey Road, Lowhill Lane, the Midland Railway's main Birmingham to Gloucester mainline, and the Halesowen Joint Railway with the Great Western Railway. The purchase also included Cofton Hill, which rose above its surroundings. Designed by Stark & Rowntree of Glasgow and constructed by James Moffatt & Sons of Camp Hill, the factory was built at a cost of £105,000, opening in the first quarter of 1895. Unfortunately, the venture failed, and the site was repossessed by the bank in 1901. Austin Motor Company Herbert Austin, who was born in Buckinghamshire and raised in Yorkshire, escaped his intended railway engineering apprenticeship and learnt his trade under an uncle in Melbourne, Australia. He returned to England in 1893 as manager of an Australian company relocating to Birmingham. In 1901, with the Vickers brothers, he founded and ran Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company, which became Britain's largest car manufacturer. In 1905, he fell out with the Vickers brothers, and looking to found his own motor car company, Herbert Austin undertook numerous exploratory rides around Birmingham in his Wolseley 7.