The doors to Aston Martin's state-of-the-art new headquarters in Silverstone have officially opened marking an exciting new beginning for the British team.

The first phase of the Technology Campus is now fully operational ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit opposite.

The first of three purpose-built buildings constructed in Silverstone will house the team's growing workforce, facilities, and ambitions. A separate wind tunnel is half-way through its build phase, while the original factory building - dating back to 1992 - will be soon replaced with a new facility.

The headquarters covers a space of 37,000m2 (400,000sqft) and is F1's first totally new team base for almost two decades and will be home to over 700.

When complete, the AMR Technology Campus will be the home to manufacturing within a single location for the first time in the history of the team's operations at Silverstone. This first building, which has taken just over 24 months to complete, houses the team's design office, engineering, production, commercial and manufacturing areas.

To celebrate the opening of the campus, the team ran one of its cars, driven by Lance Stroll, along the street of the campus cheered on by the workforce.

The decisions and actions made while building the campus have been guided by principles to protect the environment with commitment to being socially accountable. Making a positive mark on the local community is front of mind, as well as creating a culture where diversity and equality thrive.

The new headquarters will help achieve the team's environmental ambitions with better insulation, intelligent use of natural light, and solar panels helping power the site. The electricity generated annually from the solar panels is sufficient to have powered the previous factory entirely and is equivalent to making almost five million cups of tea or planting 42,000 trees each year. The intelligent building design represents a carbon footprint reduction of 278 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.

The campus also delivers a biodiversity net gain through the creation of over 72,000m2 of wild meadow, the planting of over 1,500 UK native and grown trees, 10,000m2 of lawn, and over 30,000 additional shrubs and plants.

The new site sees the installation of accessible routes to the campus for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. Dedicated electric vehicle fast charging points are available and staff are encouraged to join the company-supported electric car scheme. Employee well-being programmes include the construction of a fitness centre in the second phase of the development will complement walking and exercise routes around the grounds.

"Our new AMR Technology Campus is being built around our people," said Lawrence Stroll. "It will make designing, constructing and operating race-winning Formula One cars better, and it is also the most sustainable campus the sport has ever seen.

"Our new home is a bold statement about how Aston Martin will operate in the years ahead. A premium, ultra-luxury environment, befitting the brand, we want this to be an amazing place, giving our colleagues, partners, and visitors a sense of comfort, creativity, and pride.

"With the campus, we have created an attractive place to work that will prioritise the wellness of our colleagues, while giving us a boost in the pursuit of on-track performance."

"The opening of the new campus is an exciting milestone on our journey to becoming championship contenders," said Lance Stroll, "it's another huge upgrade from where we were. A world-class Formula One team needs world-class facilities, and this new campus will be a great place for our growing team of incredibly talented people to work from. To be able to drive one of our cars down the main street in front of my colleagues was a special moment and I'm proud to have played my part in the launch celebrations."

"I'm incredibly impressed by our new home," said Fernando Alonso. "From the Design Office to Mission Control, all the facilities are second to none and I see a lot of smiles when I walk around. To win in this sport you need to excel at everything, and this new facility is a game changer. It's a true signal of intent to enable us to fight for world championships."

Check out our Friday gallery from Silverstone here.