McLaren Technology Centre

The McLaren Technology Centre stands on a 50-hectare site in Woking, Surrey. The main building is a large glass-walled structure shaped like a half-circle, designed by Norman Foster’s firm Foster + Partners. A second building, the McLaren Production Centre, was added in 2011 to build road cars. Five artificial lakes surround the complex, holding 50,000 cubic metres of water used to cool the site. The buildings sit on land once occupied by 18 separate McLaren sites before they were consolidated. The centre houses McLaren Racing, McLaren Automotive and other group companies. By 2015 about 1,500 people worked there, using facilities that include a 700-seat restaurant, a pool and a fitness centre. A 145-metre wind tunnel contains 400 tonnes of steel and a four-metre fan turning at up to 600 rpm. In 2023 the wind tunnel became operational, and in 2024 a new performance hub opened for staff health and training. Visitors enter an underground learning centre reached by a walkway from the main building. The complex’s curved corridors, called streets, separate 18-metre-wide work sections known as fingers. Outside, the ecology lakes and formal lake reflect the architecture, while the wind tunnel and production centre sit at opposite ends. The site’s design reflects Ron Dennis’s view that a well-lit, pleasant workplace improves decision-making.