A new chapter of industry is set to begin on a site in Westwood that was once at the forefront of scientific instrument production in the 1960s.
The former Hilger and Watts factory – the founders of which were responsible for creating instruments used in Colonel John Glenn’s space capsule which orbited the Earth in 1962 – is now the home of the first site in a multi-million pound project to create a chain of ‘innovation hubs’ across the country.
The Engine Works Park, which is earmarked for completion in May, will offer 59 commercial units ranging from 1,500 to 5,100 sq ft. Proposed uses include leisure and gym facilities, light manufacturing, flexible working offices, retail and e-commerce with online/social media stores able to use the space for logistics, storage and distribution.
The Engine Works is being developed by Yeats, led by founder and managing director John O’Neill who has a background in retail, shop fitting and construction.
The project is in partnership with Nimol, headed by Irish entrepreneur Niall Molloy who founded Aldgate Developments in 2007 and is also the founder and CEO of Echelon Data Centres, one of Europe’s fastest-growing operators with facilities serving global tech leaders including Amazon and TikTok.
Completion in May will mark a fresh start for a site that has a rich industry heritage before being razed by a massive 25 day blaze in 2018.
The Hilger and Watts factory opened at the plot that is now Continental Approach in 1964, with then Secretary of State for Trade and Broadstairs man Ted Heath performing the honours.
The £300,000 factory – equating to some £7m today –manufactured high tech instrumentation for the analysis of steels and chemicals and exported all over the world. The company, which went through name changes from Hilger and Watts to Rank Hilger and later Hilger Analytical, employed hundreds of people as engineers, physicists and other occupations and was a major employer for the area.
Neighbour companies at the time included Emco and at the top end of the estate, Hornby.
But, by 1998 there were just 45 employees and the company announced 30 would be made redundant due to relocation to Cambridge. Nearby Hilger Crystals, which occupied a separate building, remained on site. That company later applied for planning permission to build a state of the art new base at Manston Business Park.
The premises was taken over by Cummins Engines, the diesel engine manufacturer that Engine Works Park takes its name from.
Cummins employed around 600 people at its peak, before operations were gradually moved between 2016 and 2019.
Manufacturing relocated to Daventry, India, and China. Some 150 production line workers lost their jobs immediately, with the site gradually transitioning into a reduced-footprint distribution and logistics hub.
Eventually, Cummins relocated its remaining 200-strong engineering team to Discovery Park in Sandwich, and the vast factory complex at Westwood fell silent.
The building later became a target for illegally stored waste. Thousands of bales of household and construction waste were dumped inside the unit and these went up in flames in September 2018.
A huge fire burned for 25 days. At its height, 80 firefighters were deployed, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen as far away as Sandwich. Northdown Primary was closed due to “unsafe carbon monoxide readings.”
As firefighters battled the flames, roads and businesses closed and the disruption led to operations cancelled at QEQM hospital.
The blaze cost Kent Fire and Rescue Service £161,000 in additional spending. By the time crews were finally stood down on 10th October, the building was gutted.
In the aftermath mounds of ash and debris were piled up within the wreckage of the unit on Enterprise Way and a major investigation was launched by the Environment Agency.
Three men have since been sentenced for their part in the dumping of the waste. No single cause for the start of the fire was confirmed.
The charred remains were untouched for two years before new owners began the massive clean up operation.
Thanet council granted planning permission for redevelopment and construction of the new Engine Works Park began in January 2025 under principal contractor South East Steel.
The site boasts split-level layouts super-fast broadband, three-phase electricity, solar PV panels, and electric vehicle charging. It is the first of a €100 million scheme from Yeats and Nimol for innovation hubs in the country.
Mr O’Neill said: “There has been demolition, decontamination with the Environment Agency, reclaiming the whole area and then development.
“Now it is looking forward, for e-commerce and businesses coming off the high street. There is the ability to have logistics, storage, distribution.
“We have a proposal for a number of sites across the UK and agreed that Margate would be the first one and so put the capital behind that.
“There are 59 units of different shapes and sizes. There are lots of opportunities for example those with businesses selling through TikTok and Instagram might need a studio for product photography or a place for storage.”
Mr O’Neill says they may also be of interest to residential landlords looking to make changes due to a raft of new legislation, with commercial units offering a stable income with no ‘red tape’ involved.
There have had enquiries and some viewings but the main marketing is expected to launch in the months following the build completion.
Units will be available to both buy and rent, with Breadings Estate Agents appointed to handle sales and leasing.
Watch a timelapse video of the development at: https://yeats.reachtimelapse.co.uk/engineworks/camera1/
Mr O’Neill said: “The day we first came to the site, I don’t think I realised what the path ahead would be to bring it to where we are now.
“The huge amount of waste that we had to figure out what to do with it, thousands and thousands of tonnes of it, but we have worked with a great bunch of guys and now we are close to finishing and I’m really pleased with it.”
A spokesperson for Niall Molloy said: “Engine Works represents a new wave of innovation-led business space in the UK.
“Margate is the ideal launchpad — a vibrant and thriving community with outstanding connectivity and access to talent. The level of early interest we’ve seen reflects the strength of the concept and the opportunity it offers businesses and investors alike.”
Excellent news. Nice to see positive stuff going on and hopefully an opportunity for many small sized businesses looking to move up a gear