From its early days providing support for the Experience Centre at Silverstone race circuit to becoming the number two dealer for Lotus cars in Europe, Lotus Silverstone has seen steady business development, culminating in a move last year to a brand-new 11,000ft² showroom, workshop, stores and administration facility on Silverstone Park — at the heart of the Silverstone Technology Cluster.

The move virtually tripled the space occupied by the company and allowed a ‘clean sheet’ approach to designing the workshop, where it carries out service, repair, diagnostics and restoration work on new and used Lotus cars.

Matthew Haskins, managing director of Lotus Silverstone (www.lotussilverstone.co.uk), said: “We identified the need to expand, and the opportunity to move not far from our original premises to Silverstone Park was ideal, as it also gave us a blank sheet of paper to create the spaces that we wanted.

"We had the chance to split the space to suit our current requirements, and to give the interior of the building a high-tech Formula One-type look and feel.

"At the same time, the move allowed us to future-proof ourselves for growth and any corporate requirements that Lotus Cars may have.”

When it came to the workshop area, the requirement was for efficient use of the space and a clean operating environment for Lotus Silverstone’s technicians to work in.

Tenders were requested from storage suppliers and Kent-based System Store Solutions (www.system-store.com) was the successful bidder, with its Fami range of storage and workbench systems.

Mr Haskins said: “We asked all of the suppliers to quote a solution that matched our vision.

"It was clear that Kate Fyfe, general manager at System Store Solutions, had listened to what we wanted, and her team created a layout that suited our needs.”