JULY 5, 2007

McLaren's new hospitality facility

McLaren unveiled its vast new hospitality unit at Silverstone and Ron Dennis explained that the new "Brand Centre" will be a very cost-effective tool in the next five years. Describing the three-storey structure as being "affordable", Dennis explained that the facility has been designed to allow the companies involved to do business at races.

Dennis explained that in the course of the last five years the old Communications Centre resulted in deals worth $500m between McLaren partners and their customers. Dennis said that the facility has been sold to someone "outside Europe" for about half of what it cost to build.

The new facility features an entertainment area on top floor, offices of the middle floor and an area for the team, the media and the drivers on the ground floor, along with the kitchen. The facility is around 850 sq m. in size. It has been paid for by McLaren, Vodafone and Mercedes-Benz in equal shares and they will also split the running costs between them.

The facility takes between 40-50 hours to build and 48 hours to take apart. At the moment it takes 12 trucks but this should reduce to 10 when the operation is slightly more streamlined.