Historics Auctioneers has opened a purpose-built £5m headquarters in Ascot, Berkshire, 16 years after founder Mark Perkins held the company’s first auction at Brooklands in 2010.
The 1.5-acre development was designed by Garrett McKee Architects and is situated alongside Ascot station. It is now home to Historics’ 28-strong team and includes a 200 square-meter showroom and a gallery displaying a rotating selection of collector cars.
Perkins founded the company in 2009 and the company has grown every year since – without outside investment. Last year, the company achieved a turnover of £16m.
Historics’ auctions are held at Ascot Racecourse and Brooklands and typically feature around 200 cars per sale, ranging from accessible classics to high-value collector cars. The classic car market as a whole annually contributes an estimated £7.3bn to the UK economy.
The new headquarters was also designed with energy efficiency and sustainability in mind. It features a network of 80 solar panels and on-site battery storage that means it draws no electricity from the grid for more than half the year.
Perkins said the new headquarters reflected both the company’s resilience and ambition. ‘Historics has been one of the most consistently successful players in the classic car auction market since the first sale in 2010,’ he added. ‘We’ve not only self-funded the business since day one, but also financed this major step up in infrastructure. It triggers interesting commercial developments in our portfolio to come.’
What those commercial developments are remains to be seen. In the meantime, Historics will host its Flight of Elegance sale at Farnborough International on 16 May. Highlights include a 1987 Ford RS200 (est. £220,000-250,000), a 1957 Porsche 356 Speedster (est. £195,000-225,000) and a 1976 Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800 Custom (est. £15,000-235,000).
View the auction catalogue here.
