Pictured above: (l-r) Dealer Principal Paul Wooding  with Jerome Wright from Gusto Construction which is transforming Astle BMW in Grimsby into a flagship dealership

Astle BMW in Grimsby is undergoing a £600,000 refurbishment programme which will transform it into a flagship dealership and create several new jobs.

Construction work at the Laceby Road showroom started at the beginning of February and will take approximately 18 weeks to complete.

The refurb will happen in three stages starting with the new MINI showroom followed by a new parts building, which will be an extension on the side of the existing building, and lastly the main showroom.

Dealer Principal Paul Wooding said despite the dramatic changes that will be taking place at the dealership it'll be open for business as usual. 

"Contractors Gusto Construction have meticulously planned the works so as to cause as little disruption to customers as possible," said Paul. "Once the refurb is complete it'll be a lot easier for visitors to park so if there is any inconvenience in the short-term it'll be worth it in the end!

"The improvements we're making will enable us to offer an even better service to our customers and stock more vehicles on site giving them more choice. The MINI showroom in particular will be a lot bigger and undoubtedly in the future we'll need to take on more staff.

"We hope the refurbishment programme will be finished by the summer and we'll be holding an official opening party to celebrate the end of the building work and welcome customers new and old to our flagship dealership."

As well as better access, the new-and-improved showroom will have a customer handover bay which will allow customers to drive their new car straight out of the showroom once the sales team have fully explained how everything works.

Plans also include a new state-of-the-art MINI showroom which will be twice the size of the old one, a roadside Motorrad display area and specialist workshop and a four vehicle valet bay.

The Grimsby garage will also be one of the few in the East Midlands to offer BMW's KDS wheel alignment service.

Gusto Construction, based in Collingham near Newark, has been appointed to undertake the building work. 

Managing Director Jerome Wright said: "We are of course pleased to be working again with Mike Baldry and the team at Astle BMW Grimsby on what is a very exciting project. 

"We're transforming the dealership both front of house with the new showrooms and behind the scenes creating new facilities such as a new parts building so that Astle can continue to deliver the quality of service that customers have come to expect.

"Working with Astle's Project Manager Mike Roberts and Dealer Principal Paul Wooding is a real pleasure. They have a great team who I'm sure are looking forward to seeing us transform their place of work over the remaining 15 weeks. They are being more than accommodating which is helping us keep to our schedule."