Mercedes reveals new campus plans for Brackley F1 factory
Mercedes has announced an ambitious revamp of its Brackley Formula 1 factory that will help turn it in to a cutting-edge Silicon Valley-style parkland campus.
The plans, which form part of a £70 million investment Mercedes is making on its infrastructure and staff, includes creating a pedestrianised setting, as well as the construction of new marketing buildings, leisure facilities and restaurants to help improve the team’s working environment.
Alongside development work that has taken place at the main Brackley factory to boost its operational capabilities, the team believes that the new campus, which should be complete by the end of 2025, will help create something that is unrivalled in F1.
Team principal Toto Wolff told Motorsport.com: “The Brackley campus was built to accommodate 350 people, and today we are at 1250.
“The development of the campus over the last five years was done at an astonishing pace and this now looks like an F1 team with modern state-of-the-art facilities.
“But what we are planning to do is to expand the campus with multiple new buildings and create a modern style campus, with lots of breakout areas, restaurants, state of the art gyms, new marketing buildings, and getting all the cars out.
“We want it to become its own little village, with all the amenities and benefits that you would expect from a Silicon Valley style environment.”
Mercedes factory aerial view
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
Mercedes believes that a key factor to ensuring long-term success in F1 is investing in people and the environment that they operate in.
So beyond immediate efforts it has made to help its staff, including a pay rise for 2023 in line with consumer inflation that is running at around 10% in the UK, it sees what it offers at its Brackley facility as essential.
Wolff added: “All of this is obviously done for our people. We're not trying to win some kind of architectural prize.
“This is not like some of our competitors did 20 years ago where you are getting lost and probably emphasising more the architecture. Here form follows function, it is not the other way around. But nevertheless, it's all done to create a great place to work at and spend time.”
Mercedes has been working on 30 different projects on site to improve its facilities, having spent £40 million so far and committed to another £30 million in the next phases.
The factory improvements will also incorporate all aspects of the team’s NetZero targets – being powered by 100% renewable energy from onsite and offsite sources. A new car park will also include an on-site solar array.
A push is also being made on helping develop biodiversity in the area and making use of only reusable and recyclable materials where possible for new construction. The new buildings will also be designed to achieve a recycling target of greater than 60% for office waste.
Mercedes factory aerial view
Photo by: Mercedes AMG
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