Office Space: Ford Goes Green With Its 10-Year Plan

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

Referring to one’s corporate buildings as a campus is en vogue, from Apple’s planned Spaceship HQ to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California. Yesterday, Ford Motor Company announced plans to transform its facilities in Dearborn into a green, modern, and high-tech work environment.

The 10-year plan will co-locate over 20,000 employees in the Dearborn area. Ford currently has a hodgepodge of more than 70 disconnected buildings along Oakwood Boulevard, many of which have been around since the Falcon and Galaxie were being sold in showrooms.

“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,” Ford president and CEO Mark Fields said in a statement.

Seeking to be seen as a car and mobility company, Ford has been developing its autonomous driving chops, planting itself in Silicon Valley, and introduced apps alongside new metal at this year’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit. If Ford’s goal is to emulate the likes of Tesla and Apple, developing this style of corporate campus is certainly a reflection of that technology-laden vision.

This isn’t the first time Ford’s thought outside the box when revamping its real estate. Fifteen years ago, Ford constructed a 10.4 acre “living roof” on top of its vast River Rouge plant. Providing a habitat for birds and insects, the roof offsets the factory’s CO2 emissions and purifies rainwater.

Big business doesn’t solely go though this effort out of the goodness of their hearts, however. Installing the $18 million living roof reportedly spared Ford the cost of building a potentially even more expensive water treatment facility.

Ford declined to say how much they’ll spend on the project, but real estate analysts estimate the project easily represents a billion dollar investment. The Glass House on Michigan Avenue will receive reworked office space and a new building for Ford Credit.

[Image: Ford Motor Company]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Master Baiter Master Baiter on Apr 13, 2016

    I'm not sure this will be enough to lure the best and brightest to Michigan. If they could do something about the snow, and the fact that Detroit city is a hell hole, maybe they'd have something... . .

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    • Bball40dtw Bball40dtw on Apr 14, 2016

      @JimZ Since I live under 2 1/2 miles from Detroit city limits, I'm sure he thinks that I live in some third world level hell hole.

  • Pannkake Pannkake on Apr 13, 2016

    This is a smart move to attract talent. After a decade+ as an engineer working in dumpy buildings with poor or no AC, no windows, mold smell, etc, I choose my current job in part because they had a new office building. That kind of investment in a company says a lot of good things about the corporate culture.

    • See 1 previous
    • JimZ JimZ on Apr 14, 2016

      @IHateCars it's not only that, the current facilities were built back when Ford built only three models of car, and basically one model of truck, all which had a few feet of wiring and if they had any electronics it was maybe the radio. they're grossly inadequate in a day when you offer 10 car models and 7 trucks, all with miles of wiring and dozens of electronic modules in them.

  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
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