McLaren Production Centre
1 / Introduction
Our extensive experience of multi-disciplinary design was rigorously tested on the design of the birthplace of the next generation of supercars for McLaren. The final building will manufacture the company’s newest design, the MP4-12C, sharing the ethos of the neighbouring Technology Centre whilst providing exceptional production flow for McLaren’s latest creations.
Housing for the specialist plant and equipment, required to design and produce these exceptional machines for such an aesthetically driven client, demands a huge but beautiful workable space. However, planning permission has dictated a restricted height, meaning our experts have had to create an innovative design to maximise space whilst working to a tight budget and programme.
The challenge that faced our experts involved finding the perfect balance between size and cost. To achieve the required square footage for the Production Centre, a significant 200x100m basement has been decided upon after extensive desk studies of the site. These dimensions provide the biggest footprint whilst mitigating dig costs. Our structural and building services engineers collaborated to create the maximum useable space by combining minimal structural frame and careful planning of services. The basement is formed as a monolithic reinforced concrete box to make the substructure as robust as possible. The effect has been a clear production line flow through the building ground and basement floors to facilitate manufacture.
In order to deliver the McLaren Production Centre on time, our team brought to bear our full experience of co-ordinating a multi-disciplinary design. With just a 12 week design period and 18 months to deliver the finished building, an intensive schedule has been orchestrated to determine the optimum design.
The McLaren Group are world leaders in their engineering field. Providing them with a building that is both high spec and low cost to roll out the next generation of supercars was a huge challenge in 12 weeks, but one we were able to rise to, creating a Production Centre worthy of the Formula One giant.
Key facts
- 200x100m basement
- 12 week design period
Related Disciplines
The Project Details
Client: McLaren Group
Architect: Foster + Partners
Buro Happold services: Geo-environmental, Structural & Geotechnical, Civil & Infrastructure, Fire Engineering, Acousitcs, CDM
