Work has started on a £1.5million development at Manheim Colchester which will see Europe’s largest auction site adopt a new multi-lane auction format.

Modelled on Manheim’s USA auction concept, four individual sales lanes will run simultaneously in one enlarged sales arena.

Once the building work is completed by mid 2007, the 52-acre Colchester site will be able to offer the highest vehicle throughput of any auction outside of the USA, says Manheim. Around 170,000 vehicles will go under the hammer each year.

To start with, each of the four lanes will have one auctioneer, but Manheim expects to fully

Manheim intend to pilot the new concept for 12 months, before making a decision on whether to adopt a similar approach at some of the other larger sites in its19-strong network.