Of the seven designs tendered, the Air Ministry ranked the P.82 as being the second-best submission, after the Hawker Hotspur but ahead of others such as Armstrong Whitworth's twin-engined design. The Air Ministry wanted several designs investigated and the production of two prototypes of each but the associated costs involved in this preference were in excess of the funding thus special permission from HM Treasury was sought. The Treasury agreed to finance the completion of seven prototypes (two Hawker, two Boulton Paul, two Fairey and one Armstrong Whitworth) but only prototypes of the two most promising designs, the P.82 and the Hotspur, were ordered in late 1935. In 1936, Boulton Paul commenced assembly on the first P.82 prototype, "K8310", at their new Wolverhampton facility; an order for a second prototype, "K8620", was received by the following year.