Mercedes Brackley HQ expansion plans win council approval

Plans to expand and renovate the main Mercedes F1 facility at Brackley have this week won the approval of the local West Northamptonshire Council.

The council said the plans would lead to "significant economic development benefits" for the town, but local companies fear that key road access roads will be inundated by traffic, which could increase tenfold.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said the team had plans to expand its operations over the next five years which would see the workforce at the site increase from 1400 to 1900 people.

“Our campus was originally built to accommodate 350 people,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said last year. “Today, we are at 1,250.”

Mercedes moved into the site in 2010 when they entered F1 as a works team after acquiring championship winners Brawn GP. Precursors Honda and British American Racing were also based there.

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Having carried out 30 different projects to reshape the design and production facilities in their factory since 2017, Mercedes are now working towards an expanded “Silicon Valley-style” parkland campus.

As part of the plans, Mercedes wants to relocate its principal staff access point from Lauda Drive to St James Road, a cul-de-sac occupied by several small firms.

Council officers estimated that cars turning into St James Road would increase from 57 to 528, and from 50 to 297 during morning and evening peaks. A security gatehouse would also be required to be built at the new entrance.

However local business people have complained that Mercedes has not liaised with them during the application process.

"We do not believe there has been sufficient information provided by Mercedes to justify the use of St James Road, other than to provide a more attractive landscape campus for their employees," said Simon Wheeler, managing director of Canonbury Products.

"The sheer volume of Mercedes traffic will inevitably cause queuing and disruption," he added. "[We] feel completely sidelined in the planning process."

Overall, the plans will provide greater parking facilities together with a covered walkway, refurbished bridge, new pedestrian and cycle bridge, cycle hub and parking spaces with solar panels.

There will also be a three-storey marketing centre and health and wellbeing hub complete with restaurant, gym, yoga space and other facilities for Mercedes employees.

The plans are part of an initiative to expand its operations on site which could include further diversification away from F1 as well as meeting ambitious sustainability objectives to become Net Zero by 2030.

The upgraded facilities aim for a 50 per cent reduction in water consumption per person per day and to achieve greater than 60 per cent recycling of office waste.

"Our current site does not meet the future ambitions of the company moving forward," said Ian Smith, project development manager for Mercedes.

"We need to make significant investment in our site and create a world-class campus which ensures that we not only attract the highest calibre of staff but also attract and retain sponsors."

“The development of the campus over the last five years was done at an astonishing pace,” Wolff said. “Now, what we are planning to do is to expand with multiple new buildings and creating a modern style campus.

"There will be breakout areas, restaurants, and a state-of-the-art gym and marketing building," Wolff said. “This is all being done for our people.

"Form follows function, not the other way round. It’s all being done to create a great place to work and spend time. We want it to become its own little village, with all the amenities and benefits you would expect from a Silicon Valley-style environment.”

Local councillor Daniel Lister said that the expansion was "likely to generate around 500 new full-time jobs with a predicted expenditure of approximately £70m which would further feed into the local economy."

He added that it "promised fantastic opportunities for economic growth and inward investment in Brackley and support our strive to be a leader in driving innovation while supporting business growth."

Mercedes' dedicated engine facility is a separate development located some 27 miles to the north in the village of Brixworth.

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