INNOVATION HOTSPOT

Maritime heritage meets cutting edge technology in Plymouth, Britain’s Ocean City. Mark Bartlett, who has worked for over two decades with luxury sail and power giants Oyster and Princess, outlines the chosen site for DISCOVERY’s global headquarters.

By Gael Pawson

Plymouth has got a huge historical relationship with sailing. Many famous explorers have set sail from Plymouth including Sir Francis Drake, Captain Cook, Ernest Shackleton and Sir Francis Chichester.

It’s home to the largest naval base in Western Europe and a strong force in global marine expertise. There’s a deep history, with Princess Yachts setting up here in 1965 and since then it’s grown to what it is today. We’ve also got Babcock, which houses some extraordinary marine engineers, so we have a huge array of talent in the city.

How does the city fit with Discovery’s environmental focus?

Plymouth is home to the UK’s first National Marine Park, which aims to bring people and the planet together. The vision is to build a new relationship between the city and the sea. We are also surrounded by a number of technology partners that are key to developing the very latest new materials and processes which will improve sustainability in a variety of areas.

Plymouth is a Freeport, what does that mean?

Freeports were set up to offer fiscal efficiencies from both local and national governments, which are beneficial for our business, and therefore ultimately for our customers and owners. The initiative is all about technology and innovation – developing a hub of businesses, which is the perfect incubator for marine innovation. This sets us up well for future growth and development. We’re really committed to building a long-term, highly skilled team and that’s also the drive behind the Discovery Academy – we’ve actually already started our first naval architecture apprenticeships.

Tell us more about the vision for the build team and facilities…

We’re building three new models with a highend, hand-picked team of artisans and we will have a rolling program of ReDISCOVERY projects. The build of semi-custom sailing yachts is much more intricate than production power boats, the artisanship far superior, which is very rewarding to work with. We’re creating something very special here in terms of our build crews – a sort of Formula 1 pit team. The vision for the build facility outweighs anything I’ve ever worked with before. I’ve worked for some of the industry’s best brands, but this takes things to the next level. The diligence that’s being paid to this project is phenomenal. To be part of that and in my hometown, is something special.