The former Rolls-Royce Heritage Centre in Derby has officially opened as Great Northern Classics and we're thrilled to have been a part in it. Founder Shaun Matthews and directors Mike Copestake, Derek Latham, and Rob Jones held a media preview, followed by public events in March 2024. By the time doors opened properly, several restoration businesses had already moved in and set up shop.

One year and £3.5 million later, the 80,000 sq ft Victorian factory now houses thirty specialist businesses—auto-electricians, upholsterers, engine builders, panel beaters, marque specialists. The people who keep classic Jaguars and Bentleys running when most mechanics wouldn't know where to start.

This isn't a museum. It's a working restoration hub with climate-controlled vehicle storage, workshop space for specialist businesses, an apprenticeship programme launching in 2025, and public access so people can see what heritage restoration looks like in practice. Car club events. Exhibition space. An outdoor area that holds 150+ vehicles.

Matthews came from an engineering background—apprenticed at EKCO Cole, later co-owned Deb Group (the company behind Swarfega). He'd noticed the pattern most people miss: the specialists who can hand-stitch period-correct leather or rebuild a pre-war gearbox are all approaching retirement. In ten years, maybe less, that knowledge disappears.

The Federation of Small Businesses found 80% of firms struggled to find skilled applicants in 2022. In the classic vehicle sector, it's worse. Great Northern Classics exists to stop panel beating and proper upholstery becoming lost arts.

Derby City Council supported the project financially because the numbers made sense. The heritage industry contributes £1.26 billion to the East Midlands economy. Great Northern Classics adds to that while turning a grade-listed building into something useful rather than letting it decay gracefully.

The building itself has history. Built in the 1850s as Victoria Ironworks, it cast beams for Sydney Harbour Bridge. Rolls-Royce used it during WWII for jet engine research. The foundry produced parts for Spey engines—the ones that powered Thrust SSC to 763mph. Now it's teaching teenagers skills their great-grandparents knew by heart.

JSA Architects handled the planning application for change of use and the interior design that made workshops, storage, training facilities, and public spaces coexist in a listed Victorian factory. Derby's got its heritage motor centre. Thirty businesses have workspace. Apprentices will have somewhere to learn. And the skills shortage that's been quietly getting worse since the 1980s? At least someone's doing something about it.

Not bad for a year's work.