JLR Global HQ

Our new building for JLR in the Warwickshire countryside brings the company’s core development functions of design, engineering and production purchasing together under one all-embracing timber roof.

Once home to a World War II airbase, Gaydon has long been a focus for research and development. This most recent addition, looks to the future – the new facility is now the centre for work on autonomous, electrified and shared mobility technologies to support the company’s long-term growth.

The building accommodates 3,500 staff, including a Design Studio, offices, a flexible 400-seat hall, visitor facilities, a restaurant, cafés and a range of social and meeting spaces. To create a sense of community in a building of 58,000 square metres, the design uses a sequence of horizontal planes to guide circulation and encourage collaboration between departments. A new internal street links the building to the existing structures.

Europe’s largest timber roof (at the time of completion), expresses warmth, community and sustainability, whilst also incorporating rooflights to fill the internal spaces below with balanced natural light. A steel super-grid provides a robust, flexible framework for all these different functions; its form references the triangular geometry of the original airbase runways, connecting the site’s future to its past.

Externally, a 20.4 hectare masterplan forms a high-profile entry sequence and a lush, landscaped setting full of natural amenity for staff and wildlife.