A picture of the new McLaren factory!

September 29, 2011 by Joe Saward

Last week I briefly touched on McLaren’s expansion plans in the years ahead, as the company bids to become a multi-billion dollar enterprise. In addition to an expanded racing team, the McLaren Automotive car company and its electronics division, the main thrust of the expansion will come from the McLaren Applied Technologies division, a company that will apply the lessons that McLaren has learned to create new products and maximum efficiency for any number of other industries, bringing better results to corporate giants around the world. In some respects this is a completely new industry. The team has applied for planning permission for two new facilities in Woking: the McLaren GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) Centre for Applied Performance and the McLaren Applied Technology Centre. Scheduled to open in 2013, The McLaren GSK Centre will provide a learning hub in which employees of both organisations will be able to share knowledge and technology and collaborate on new ideas.

McLaren Applied Technologies is one of the fastest-growing parts of the McLaren Group, channelling our race-bred expertise in materials science, simulation and data processing into a diverse portfolio of new projects outside the realms of motorsport. As an example there is race-bred technology being used at Heathrow Airport, which is now reducing emissions and cutting delays by optimising the flow of aircraft ground traffic.

“In the coming decades, science and technology will be the key to the UK’s competitiveness on the global stage, which is why the 60,000-square-metre McLaren Applied Technology Centre will incorporate areas dedicated to education and training,” the team says. “Where better for the next generation of engineering talent to learn their trade than at the cutting edge of technology, where racing success is translated into business wins?”

Here is an llustration (published with permission from McLaren) of what the new factories will look like, and where they will be located.

Posted in F1 Teams | 24 Comments

24 Responses

on September 29, 2011 at 10:51 ChrisP

Wow!
on September 29, 2011 at 11:10 forzaminardi

Next we’ll see pictures of Ron sitting behind a big revolving desk with a fluffy white cat on his lap…
on September 29, 2011 at 11:12 @Twiger

They are building it around the local dump / recycling centre?

Thats not very McLaren!
on September 29, 2011 at 11:40 Another John

This will be an impressive entrance into Woking. Hopefully they will move the Recycling Centre (rubbish tip) that is just south of building to the right of the roundabout otherwise it will spoil the view of the Surrey countryside!
on September 29, 2011 at 11:46 Skronk

Bahrain medical staff sentenced over protests

Thirteen doctors and nurses who treated anti-government protesters given 15-year jail terms for crimes against state.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/09/20119298364868205.html
on September 29, 2011 at 12:07 John (other John)

Far far nicer plan that Apple’s vast doughnut / taurus / infinite corridor. Fills the available space attractively. If you can, Joe, please beg some elevations, as and when they may be allowed.

One thing which cheers me up, which is good progress, is building tech and materials. All of which makes cool and naturalistic shapes possible. I forget now, the French architect who built concrete houses without any corners, all curves and domes on the coast. They look stunning, but are constantly needing repair. (would be my folly, to own one, were i rich, long before dabbling in F1). What we have now makes these shapes possible and practical. I’ve just discovered you can buy online 3M very high bond tape – holds my bodyweight vertical sheer per square inch of the stuff. Putting up cupboards has become geek fun. Still reading the safety sheet mind, so if i go all quiet, i’m erm, unsticking myself from the wall . .

a “Ron-ism” came to mind. How he had the floorplan of a main concourse adjusted so that the stone tiling he preferred would lay without any cuts or irregularity. I deeply admire that kind of attention to detail. I had to grind concrete for a week to get mine laid nicely, and the chap who did them, well we had to get out a laser to spot any variation at all, which was simply negligible – and he did them by eye. Whilst smoking a fat bifter, as it happens, but would hire him again! I miss “Ron Speak” after the races. Appeals to my sense of order.
on September 29, 2011 at 13:08 Daniel Tyler

Working in pharmaceuticals and being a formula one fan, I can see both industries are highly synergistic (did I just make that word up ?) – both industries are high tech and use technology to decrease attrition and improve performance.
Seems the link has already started with Lucozade sports drinks for Lewis and Jenson !
on September 29, 2011 at 13:26 GeorgeK

A racing derived high technology firm allied with GSK?

I wonder how Bruce would have viewed all this?

Much like Ferrari sell road cars to support their racing passions I can’t fault Ron for creating empire in support of their racing visions/ambitions.
on September 29, 2011 at 14:23 Nick

All very impressive and while there is no denying teams need to expand beyond the track to fund the racing it kinda leaves me a bit cold. Call me old fashioned but i do hark back to the days when these guys just RACED ! Anyone agree ?
on September 29, 2011 at 15:21 spursfan

An engineer with Renault rather than an architect – search for Pierre Bezier

PS I’m old enough to remember and still have the flexible curve that I used in maths lessons many decades ago!
on September 29, 2011 at 20:08 Bert - Go team Hesketh!!!

Joe, any details on the “race-bred technology being used at Heathrow Airport”. It would be interesting to hear what is being done.

We have heard of the Williams fly-bryd system being used in trains, and other teams working directly in aerospace project.

Cheers!
on September 29, 2011 at 20:37 colin grayson

love the way it is being built next to a small airfield so that you can go visit in your Bizjet joe

or do you belong to the london transport flying club [ the wooden hut in the corner ]…formed prewar so that bus drivers could learn to fly , but now open to all
on September 29, 2011 at 22:47 Tony G

It’s a long way from a shed in an industrial estate at the end of one of Heathrow’s runways isn’t it? A long way from Coopers’ workshop in Surbiton for Ron too. Good on him.
on September 30, 2011 at 00:04 John (other John)

spursfan,

Évariste Galois.

more of them please!
– j
on September 30, 2011 at 00:05 John (other John)

spursfan,

think my machine flipped there, must be too controversial a name, but this guy:

Évariste Galois

yours,

– j
on September 30, 2011 at 00:08 John (other John)

Or Grace Hopper? (Admiral Grace Hopper)

She would have had me at her knees, were i the same age, and had any luck.
on September 30, 2011 at 00:09 John (other John)

sorry for double posting, just saw that, my geek brain wonders if unicode is handled well, or just my old box here . .
on September 30, 2011 at 09:00 Andrew

I went on a tour of the MTC back in May and one of the comments from the guide was regarding the new building. Apparently the original plans were quite advanced and foundation work was about to start when Ron called up the architect and casually stated the the height of the building had to be re-worked. When the architect asked why, Ron said it was because he’d struck a deal with a wall tile supply company and because he didn’t want a cut tile anywhere in the building, all the walls had to be the right height to accommodate whole, complete tiles only. It’s the same with the floors widths, rooms have to be sized so only uncut tiles fit in.

Now that is what I call ultimate precision! Also makes life a bit easier for whoever has got the tiling gig.
on September 30, 2011 at 09:29 RobbieMeister

Seems we have a few “locals” on here. That looks very impressive and a tunnel under the road to link the two.

We take the dogs for a walk on Guildford golf course and there is a good view of Woking. For quite a while there have been some massive cranes working on the Production Centre, I think they have gone now.

It is good to see some hi-tech coming back to the area. It used to be a haven for aerospace (until some bright spark in power decided it would be “cheaper” (NOT) to buy American) as a consequence most of that expertise has been lost. See also BAE redundancies yesterday.

There were some great names around here as a consequence of the aerospace link. Let me see: HWM, Connaught, Cooper, Brabham, Ralt, McLaren, Lola, Tyrell there may be more but my mind has gone blank. Ooops of course: Thompson and Taylor, Campbell……
on September 30, 2011 at 09:34 RobbieMeister

@colin grayson

Colin, if you are refering to Fairoaks it’s a grass field so Im not sure it can take jets. My understanding is that they use Farnborough.
on September 30, 2011 at 12:18 oziboy

HOLY SHIT, WOW!!!
on September 30, 2011 at 12:44 oziboy

Also Joe, I hope for more articles about McLaren factories in the future, it’s very interesting. With more photos too!
on September 30, 2011 at 23:34 mutt

the council have just spent a few hundred grand modernising the dump, so i dont think even the influence of ronny in local politics will be able to get that moved
on November 16, 2011 at 14:35 Ianl

@RobbieMeister Fairoaks is a hard surface runway. Since the ’70′s. Biz Jets can and do land here but they can only do if flying in a private capicity. No AOC work as the runway is not ‘legally’ long enough, The have to factor a margin for saftey

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