Location: Wolverhampton, United Kingdom.

Architect: Arup.

The BREEAM Excellent Engine Manufacturing Centre was designed to be an exemplar of modern sustainable manufacturing. The facility includes 165,000m2 of production space, offices, social support spaces, and a community educational center. The building’s success was shaped by innovation, collaboration, and the wellbeing of people at the facility. The layout was designed for flexibility, providing an efficient process flow for manufacturing and easy access to support facilities for staff. The machine and assembly halls are naturally lit and flanked by supporting office and ancillary buildings. The repeating discretely expressed façade modules generated by the north lights create a powerful architectural impression. The skylights provide generously day-lit spaces throughout the complex, and continuous strips of glass along the ground floor allow the buildings to float, further humanizing the scale of the spaces while providing views out to the landscaped surroundings. The facility’s energy requirements are met by 21,000 PV panels that deliver up to 5.8MW of power, reducing the plant’s CO2 footprint by over 2,400 tonnes per year. The first phase of the facility was handed over just 24 months after the design team appointment, with subsequent phases following in continuous sequence from 2013 to 2017.

Photo credit: Simon Kennedy.