HEIDELBERG has sold its UK HQ in Brentford to Fairview New Homes for around £40 million.

According to Printweek, Heidelberg is now finalising plans to relocate its customer operations and showroom to a new location.

The sale of the Brentford site has been on the cards for a while, with Managing Directory, Ryan Miles, saying last year that it was 'inevitable' that the site would be sold at some point.

In its most recent accounts for the UK, Heidelberg said it had entered into discussions to sell the Brentford site, which had been revalued at £18.1 million.

This comes as headcount was largely reduced at the business, while consumables and parts logistics were outsourced to Miniclipper last year.

Sales had dropped in the year to March 31 2020 and the coronavirus pandemic went on to impact sales even further.

Heidelberg's German Head Office said it had agreed a purchase price 'in the mid-double-digit million-euro range' - so potentially around €50 million - with developer Fairview New Homes, with the deal to be finalised in Q4 2021.

Miles said leaving the site would be 'the end of an era', having officially opened in 1983, but would also mark a new chapter for the business.

"A lot has changed in the 40-plus years since we've been there.

"At the time it was a very industrial area and very easy for travel.

"Since then, a lot of our London customers have relocated.

"It's very, very important that we look after our office-based staff, and being slightly further west helps people who travel in.

"Staff are very excited about going into a new modern space.

"It makes sense operationally and will be far more efficient – our current building is not the most efficient from a green point-of-view."

Heidelberg CEO, Rainer Hundsdörfer, said the Brentford disposal was 'an important step in the ongoing adjustment of our structures'.

He added: "By using space more efficiently, we will save considerable costs at Heidelberg in the future.

"We will use the funds thus freed up to strengthen our liquidity and continue to drive forward strategic investments for the future on the path of our digital transformation."