UK startup Isembard opens largest London factory since WWII

Isembard, a UK-based startup, has opened the largest factory in London since WWII, to manufacture defence components for customers such as Anduril, Babcock, and Tekever. 

Alongside defence, the London factory will also produce components for the aerospace and robotics sectors, an announcement by Isembard on 14 September says.  

Expanding the UK’s defence manufacturing and industrial base  

To support manufacturing for critical industries, Isembard says that the factory will include a range of three-axis and five-axis milling machines, turn-mills, and wire electrical discharge machines. It will additionally house a climate-controlled metrology lab. 

The company’s proprietary operating software, MasonOS, will additionally be utilised at the new London factory. This software is designed to automate quoting, scheduling, production, and quality control.  

The London location joins the 15 other existing factories operated by the company in France, Germany, the UK, and US.  

The new global headquarters for Isembard will also be housed at the London facility.  

Isembard explained  

Founded in late 2024, Isembard uses a manufacturing franchise model that allows operators to own factories that produce components for critical industries such as defence, aerospace, energy, and robotics.  

The company specifically chose Southwark for its new factory due to its central London location and access to the UK capital’s “vast technology talent pool”.  

The area also marks where Isambard Kingdom Brunel – the British civil and mechanical engineer that designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol and who inspired the company’s name – spent his early career.