Vestas London (Leatherhead)
Address and point of contact
Kings Court
41-51 Kingston Road
Leatherhead
Surrey
KT22 7SL
United Kingdom
Phone: (+44) 1372 371277
Introduction to the location
The office is situated on the edge of London. It is officially ½ mile outside the border of London, in the small town of Leatherhead in the county of Surrey. There are currently 24 employees at this growing site, from 3 different business units: Technology R&D, Offshore and Blades. The office location was selected to give easy rail commute access from the whole of south London, as well as rail and road commute access from the countryside south of Leatherhead. Leatherhead train station is a convenient 5 minute walk from the office and there are 8 trains per hour to central London in the rush hour, also from the Surrey towns of Guildford and Dorking. In addition, the office is ½ mile from a junction on the M25, London’s orbital motorway. London’s Heathrow airport is 25 minutes away by road and Gatwick airport is 35 minutes.
A little history
Wind turbine manufacturers that have become part of the Vestas group (NEG Micon, earlier Wind Energy Group Ltd) have been present in London since the 1970’s, and the office moved to Leatherhead in 2007. The office has recently grown to serve as a conduit office from the London area for Vestas and now contains R&D, Sales and Quality functions.
Departments
- Technology R&D: Control Systems, Composite Structures and Project Management
- Blades PBU: Product & Process Introduction
- Offshore: Wind Turbine Sales, Commercial Project Management and Transaction Matters
What’s it like to work here
The office consists of one wing of a large office building. There is a successful environmental travel-to-work policy which consists of: (a) locating the office near a major rail station; (b) providing cycling facilities, including secure, covered cycle racks.
The Leatherhead office provides a dynamic, professional working environment. The office is modern and consists of an open-plan layout arranged into clusters of typically 4 persons. There is a range of meeting rooms seating up to 12 persons, with video and teleconferencing facilities. The working environment is highly friendly and professional and the employees are considerate of each other’s space.
Local benefits
There is a table tennis room within the office, which is very popular for some recreational relief between work. There is a free lunch one day a week for all employees, other social activities amongst employees mostly happen ad hoc.
Sights and surroundings
The office is in an excellent location, with something for everyone, both in terms of locations to live in and to visit. Firstly, employees can either live in London or access it by train very easily. The attractions of London are well known and extremely extensive, covering all types of the performing arts, international cuisine, museums, sport, architecture, etc. However, Leatherhead is also situated on the edge of London’s ‘Green Belt’, which is a ring of protected open countryside running around the city. The Green Belt near Leatherhead is classic English countryside, a range of hills called the North Downs, and these provide many opportunities for walking, mountain biking, horse-riding and so on. Some employees choose to live in the small towns and villages near Leatherhead, giving a quieter life than in London but still with rapid access to the city.
