Plans for a new £100m headquarters and factory for Brompton Bikes on a 100-acre wetlands site near Ashford in Kent, UK have been unveiled.

The building will be positioned on stilts 2.2m above the flood plain which will be turned into a nature reserve open to the public.

Cyclists will be allowed into the nature reserve and also into the new building. No new parking spaces will be created, with staff encouraged to arrive by public transport or bike.

Guy Hollaway, principal partner at Hollaway Studio - who designed the building - said the challenge had been to rethink both the concept of a factory while creating a symbiotic relationship between industry and nature.

He said the building would appear to float above the wetlands, allowing water levels to rise and fall throughout the year. A reinforced floorplate would be supported by foundation piles which would also draw heat from the ground.

Brompton is the largest volume bicycle manufacturer in Britain, producing approximately 50,000 bicycles each year.

Will Butler-Adams, Brompton's founder and chief executive, said the new building would be a “revolutionary and sustainable bicycle factory of the future." He described it as a “twenty-first century Bournville”, referencing the model village in Birmingham, UK, founded by the Cadbury family.

“The factory will merge the public and private domains of industry through permitting the public to view not only how Brompton bikes are manufactured but to reveal and educate how industry works - a rarity in such settings and something that will position it firmly within the community,” he added.

The new headquarters will be submitted for planning in April with completion due by 2027.