The British Racing Drivers' Club Clubhouse at Silverstone was our first significant completed architecture project. It went up in 1999, built in just 51 weeks after the bulldozers moved in on the Monday morning following the 1998 British Grand Prix. It was handed over the day before the 1999 race weekend. For Ridge, it was a milestone: the moment we stood on our own feet architecturally.
Nearly three decades later, we were asked to come back.
A building worth returning to
The brief for the retrofit wasn’t driven by failure; the BRDC Clubhouse had done exactly what it was designed to do and had done it well. On Grand Prix weekends and the handful of other big events in the Silverstone calendar, the place was packed, and members loved it.
However, a successful building that’s used hard eventually asks for more. The bars and the toilet provisions that were perfectly adequate in 1999, hadn’t kept pace with demand. After nearly thirty years of service, the original grey concrete block – sharp and purposeful when it was built – was simply due for a refresh, a natural point in the life of any well-used building.
The brief, in essence, was to give the building room to breathe: more space, more comfort, a refresh that respected what was already there rather than overwriting it.
Solving for space
Much of the work happened inside; a rear extension was added at first floor level, which enabled the bar to be pushed back and the toilets to be enlarged. This extension sits over an existing plant deck that had become largely redundant thanks to improvements elsewhere in the circuit’s infrastructure.
From the outside, the approach was similarly restrained: some over cladding with mesh, a new gatehouse, and a tidy-up of the external area at the rear, where plants and freezers had accumulated over the years.
The gatehouse is a particular highlight – originally a simple prefabricated structure, it’s been over-clad to match the rest of the site and now reads as a considered piece of design rather than a utilitarian afterthought.
The grandstand next door – previously a separate entity sitting awkwardly alongside the clubhouse – was drawn more naturally into the whole, with landscaping that now connects the two buildings into a single coherent environment.
The results are subtle in the best possible way.
This project was a milestone both for me personally and for our burgeoning architectural team. Revisiting it to expand and enhance the facilities has been a real pleasure. The greatest reward is seeing the building so well loved, bustling with people enjoying the racing at Silverstone, and hearing how much the improvements are appreciated by members.”
Paul Hartle
Partner, Architecture
The roof terrace
The biggest transformation happened at the top of the building.
Silverstone is built on a former wartime airfield which means it’s flat, wide open and can get extremely windy and cold – conditions that shape everything about how the terrace works.
The clubhouse roof terrace had always been a spectacular place to watch racing from, and on Grand Prix Day it would be draped with people. Getting a drink or using the facilities meant heading downstairs, so the solution was elegant. A new extension on the roof now houses a bar and toilets, so members no longer have to break away from the action. A glass screen, set back from the balcony edge, creates a protected zone while keeping the front of the terrace fully open – you can still lean over the rail and feel completely connected to what’s happening on the circuit. Behind the screen, a tiered standing area gives a clear sightline over the people at the front, and seating in the middle of the terrace sits sheltered from the wind on all sides.
It’s a space that has been changed by a handful of considered moves. The terrace has always been well loved on race day, but it’s now more comfortable in more extreme weather, opening it up to a wider range of members beyond the die-hard fans who braved it before.
The opening
The completed building was opened recently with great enthusiasm from members and the club committee alike. At the event, a statue of Jim Clark was unveiled, and the neighbouring grandstand was renamed the Jim Clark Grandstand in his honour. Former F1 world champion and BRDC stalwart Sir Jackie Stewart described the facility as the finest in the world for watching F1 – the kind of endorsement that arrives when the work has earned it.
For us, the project completes a particular kind of arc. A practice that built its first significant architecture project on this site in 1999 has returned to extend its life by another generation. The building was designed to last, and it has; now, with a little more space and a little more comfort, it’s ready for the next 30 years.
