Isembard has opened a 160,000 sq ft factory and headquarters in Southwark, in what the manufacturing company claims is the largest new factory to open in central London since the Second World War.
The company operates a network of precision engineering factories, supplying components to industries including aerospace, defence, energy and robotics. It combines its own manufacturing sites with a franchise model and uses proprietary software, MasonOS, to manage and standardise production across the network.
The opening comes as the company expands rapidly across the UK, Europe and the US, with the number of its factories rising from four at the start of 2026 to 16 today.
Isembard said its revenue had increased tenfold year on year over the past 12 months and that it expected to raise further funding to support its international expansion.
The Southwark site combines the company’s global headquarters with a precision manufacturing facility producing components for customers in aerospace, defence and robotics. Its customers include Anduril, Babcock and Tekever.
The factory includes three- and five-axis milling machines, turn-mills and wire electrical discharge machines, as well as a climate-controlled metrology laboratory. Offices overlook the factory floor, allowing Isembard’s software and robotics engineers to work alongside production operations.
The company plans to increase the Southwark workforce from 35 people today to 200 by the end of 2027, with roles spanning manufacturing, software, robotics and automation engineering.
Isembard’s expansion comes as manufacturers face increasing pressure to bring production and supply chains closer to home, particularly in sectors such as defence, aerospace and energy.
The company is targeting 100 owned and franchise factories across the UK by the end of 2028, which it says could create about 2,200 skilled jobs. It has also opened its first sites in continental Europe, in France and Germany, and added 10 franchise operators.
Isembard operates a network of owned and franchised factories using its MasonOS software platform, which the company describes as an agentic operating system for manufacturing. The platform is intended to standardise processes across its factory network while providing operators with engineering and operational tools.
The company said the Southwark site had been chosen partly because of the area’s industrial history. Southwark and neighbouring Bermondsey were historically home to engineering works, foundries, printworks and tanneries, while the Thames supported a wider network of wharves and docks.
Alexander Fitzgerald, Founder and Chief Executive of Isembard, said the decline of Britain’s industrial base had created an opportunity to rebuild domestic manufacturing capacity. “Bringing production back onshore is the work of the next decade,” he said.
The factory opening comes as the UK government seeks to increase domestic manufacturing capacity, particularly in strategically important sectors. Its Defence Investment Plan places emphasis on sovereign capability, autonomous systems and resilient supply chains.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the investment demonstrated confidence in the government’s efforts to encourage manufacturing and skilled employment in the UK.
“This is exactly what reindustrialising Britain is all about,” he said. “Bringing manufacturing back into the UK, backing our critical industries and creating highly skilled jobs across the country.”
