Lotus Masterplan

With ever advancing technologies comes the need to consider new ways of working, with that comes the challenge of how and where to do so. In the instance of this application the location is Hethel, thanks to Lotus’ ongoing commitment to build sportscars at their HQ in South Norfolk. Lotus, established its HQ at Hethel in 1966 and the site has evolved over the following 60 years. Most recently seeing the completion of new production facilities for their current sportscar the Lotus Emira in 2021. In addition to this they have continued to developed R&D facilities to support their EV hypercar the Lotus Evija. As we are all aware the world is progressing with various forms of sustainable transport technologies and looking to the future Lotus have committed that their next mainstream sportscar will be an all-electric vehicle (EV). To facilitate this commitment they require new buildings that will allow them to install a production line to enable them to build an EV sportscar. As part of this ambition they intend to build facilities that minimse the carbon footprint of the factory as well as the vehicles built within.

Fabric First Architects have been commissioned by Group Lotus to submit a hybrid application to include a masterplan outline application for the Hethel Technology Park and a detailed application for the revised road layout to facilitate the masterplan and improve access to Hethel Innovation and Potash Lane to the benefit of the existing businesses located along it.