The Museum of Speed has been a feature of the Pendine coastline since 1996.  However, by 2017 the building structure was at risk because of movement and damage through erosion.

This was an opportunity to design a new building within a development that makes a difference to the Pendine community by providing year-round employment.  The Caban guest accommodation and the Museum are built side-by-side using sustainable building technologies and renewable energy features.  Landscaping to create level access around the resort and throughout the new buildings, adapted guest rooms, and Changing Places toilet improve accessibility to the resort.

Since 1996 the museum has been associated with its annual visitor, Babs, the record-breaking land-speed car once owned and driven by J. G. Parry-Thomas.  Today the car is owned by the Babs Trust following its remarkable salvage and restoration by Owen Wyn Owen in the 1960s and whose family remain its custodian.  The new and bigger Museum of Land Speed’s high security and environmental controls mean we can tell more stories about Pendine’s land speed history through original artefacts.  This includes material kindly lent by Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Motor Museum, and many individuals with family connections to Pendine’s racing and land speed history.

A collaboration with the University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD) and its innovative Automotive and Transport design course is the focus for the new museum’s first special exhibition.  This showcases students’ work whose designs confront the changing issues that move our ideas of what automotive and transportation was, is and might be: sustainability, social impact, internationalism, a challenge to perceptions about accessibility and diversity and of course, ‘fun’!

Students in Wales on the Automotive & Transport Design programme (UWSTD) are challenging conventions in motoring and mobility. Designs by Alistair Barkley.

The Pendine scheme has been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government. This was a major project for Carmarthenshire County Council’s Regeneration section, securing £millions from a number of sources to create a high-quality destination that aims to encourage business investment and employment in the locality.