Construction has begun on Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team’s new factory and wind tunnel in Northamptonshire, UK.
Aston Martin executive chairman Lawrence Stroll and JCB chairman Lord Bamford both attended the ground-breaking ceremony, which marks the official start of an 18-month construction and installation phase for a new headquarters for the Formula 1 team. The facilities have been designed by Ridge and Partners and project-managed by Ridge, construction consultancy Gardiner & Theobald, and the team’s own in-house resource.
The 400,000ft2 (37,000m2 ) buildings will become the new home for the team, which has outgrown its existing facilities and will rapidly grow its current headcount by the expected project completion date of late 2022 or early 2023. The new three-unit factory will be constructed on land adjacent to Silverstone, where the team is based. One building will house the team’s design, manufacturing and marketing department; a second will be occupied by the new wind tunnel; and the third will redevelop and repurpose the existing factory premises as a central hub featuring staff amenities and a logistics center.
For the first time, the new factory will house every manufacturing resource within a single campus – the team currently operates from several discrete buildings, with additional work outsourced externally. The new wind tunnel and a simulator installation will complement the consolidation of the campus and mark the first time the team will have its own tunnel on-site, which will incorporate a steel belt floor and also a dedicated section for particle image velocimetry visualization.
