This month, Ford motorcar company will break ground on a new complex as part of a major upgrade to its 60-year old Dearborn campus in Michigan. New buildings, located in two campus’ designed by Michigan-based architecture firm SmithGroupJJR, will see a fifty-percent reduction in energy consumption, save water, and include a new zero-waste, zero-energy, zero-water Sustainability Showcase building.
The move comes as Ford attempts to realign their focus within the rapidly changing automobile industry. “As we transition to an auto and a mobility company, we’re investing in our people and the tools they use to deliver our vision,” said Ford President and CEO Mark Fields. “Bringing our teams together in an open, collaborative environment will make our employees’ lives better, speed decision-making and deliver results for both our core and emerging businesses.”
Of the two new campus’ in question, one will be devoted to “products” and the other will act as a headquarters. Together they will comprise 70 buildings for 30,000 employees. Within they ten year time span Ford have set their sights on “more than 7.5 million square feet of work space will be rebuilt and upgraded into even more technology-enabled and connected facilities.”
Within the campus’ a network of walkable community with paths, trails, and covered walkways will connect buildings. On the product campus, autonomous vehicles, on-demand shuttles and eBikes will also be available to use. The showpiece however, will be a new state-of-the-art design center that will boast more than 700,000 square feet of space for design studios as well as an outdoor courtyard for work and socializing.
Meanwhile, at the second campus, 1.3 million square feet will be transformed to house the Ford World Headquarters and a Ford Credit facility.
All in all, the transformation will see an additional 100 acres of green space and 3.8 million square feet of new buildings. Construction is due to begin this month at the Ford Research and Engineering Center (to become the new product campus), while Ford says that they expect most of the work to be done by 2023. Work on the Ford World Headquarters will begin in 2021, being complete by 2026.
