Chester: The LEGO Group breaks ground on carbon-neutral run factory
CHESTER — The LEGO Group today broke ground on its new carbon-neutral run factory in Chesterfield County. This is a $1 billion investment in the company’s long-term growth globally and will help delight millions of children in the Americas with LEGO® play.
Once completed in 2025, the 340 acres site, the size of 260 American football fields, will have rooftop and ground solar panels and an onsite 35-40 MW solar plant, generating the equivalent of the energy needed to power approximately 10,000 American homes. The LEGO Group’s ambition is for the solar plant to match the total annual energy requirements of the site.
The site will be designed to support the company's sustainability ambitions, including reducing its absolute global carbon emissions by 37% by 2032. It will use the latest energy-efficient production equipment while buildings and manufacturing processes are designed to minimize energy use.
Chester: The LEGO Group's carbon-neutral run factory
$1 billion investment, set to open in 2025.
Company’s second facility in the Americas and seventh globally to support long-term growth.
More than $1 million committed to support local organizations providing children from disadvantaged backgrounds with Learning through Play experiences.
1,760 jobs created, currently recruiting for 500 positions.
Carbon-neutral run facility with onsite solar plant to match total annual energy requirement.
Groundbreaking ceremony attended by top state officials and key community partners.
Carsten Rasmussen, Chief Operations Officer of the LEGO Group said: “We are absolutely delighted to mark the beginning of construction here in Virginia. We are grateful for the fruitful collaboration we have had with all partners across the Commonwealth of Virginia who share and support our ambition to build this factory.
“We are working hard to reduce emissions at the LEGO Group and are really excited about our plans to build this solar plant as we push towards a better world for our children to inherit.
“Our new site will allow us to inspire millions of children across the Americas through play and we can’t wait to get started.”
Today’s groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Rasmussen and Skip Kodak, LEGO Group Regional President, Americas, along with top Virginia state officials and key partners.
More than $1 million for children’s programs in the greater Richmond area
To celebrate the groundbreaking, the LEGO Group today revealed it will officially ramp up its community investments by providing over $1 million to charitable organizations that support local children from disadvantaged backgrounds with learning through play programs.
This donation is above and beyond the $300,000 provided in support of the Children's Museum of Richmond and the Science Museum of Virginia in 2022 as part of the ongoing LEGO Playful Learning Museum Network initiative.
"We are honored to have been so warmly welcomed by the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are committed to making a meaningful contribution to the community and giving children opportunities to realize their potential," Rasmussen said. "We look forward to working with local partners and organizations to support initiatives that inspire kids.”
Other recipients of the donation provided in collaboration with the LEGO Foundation will be announced in the summer.
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Landscape design inspired by children
Children of the greater Richmond area will also have a say in the site’s development. In March, the LEGO Group invited 250 children to share their ideas for making the land around the factory buildings welcoming to animals, plants and visitors.
Built with LEGO bricks, their ideas ranged from building trees for flying squirrels and birds to fitting plants with cameras to enable visitors to observe the area’s biodiversity live and in color. The children’s boundless creativity will inspire the final landscaping design in 2025.
Locating factories close to major markets
The factory investment in Virginia will expand the LEGO Group’s global manufacturing network which is designed to locate factories close to major markets. This allows the LEGO Group to respond to shifts in local demand, shorten the supply chain, and reduce its environmental impact.
The company is also investing in building capacity across its network and will open a new site in Vietnam by 2024 and is expanding existing factories in Mexico, Hungary and China to meet immediate and long-term demand for the company’s products.
Recruiting 1,760 skilled employees, diverse and inclusive workplace
The LEGO Group is currently recruiting up to 500 people to join a temporary packing facility due to open in the first half of 2024. Once the main factory is fully operational, it will employ 1,760 highly skilled workers responsible for operating state-of-the-art moulding, processing and packing machinery.
The company is participating in the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program to raise awareness in the local talent market of current and future roles.
The LEGO Group is committed to providing safe, diverse and inclusive workplaces where everyone feels welcome. The new location will feature wellbeing areas, parents’ facilities, and multi-faith rooms while break rooms and common areas will be inspired by the company’s core value of fun and designed to become playful spaces.
The company also offers inclusive benefits such as extended paid parental leave: 26 weeks of leave at full pay for the primary caregiver and eight weeks for the secondary caregiver to be decided by the parents.
Facts LEGO® Manufacturing Richmond
Investment: US $1 billion
Jobs: 1,760 positions over 10 years, recruitment ongoing for 500 roles in new packing facility. For a full list of jobs, visit legocareersvirginia.com.
Land: 340 acres/137 hectares, equivalent to 260 American football fields.
Buildings: 13 buildings that will span over 1.7 million sq. ft./160.000 m2 ranging from office spaces, moulding, processing, packing buildings and a high bay warehouse.
Blueprint: Same blueprint for all LEGO factories – high-tech production equipment that ensures each brick is made to the accuracy of 1/10th of a hair’s width. This precision means that LEGO bricks made today fit perfectly with bricks and products made over the past 60 years.
Location: Near Richmond Virginia, USA in Chesterfield County.
Sustainability
Carbon-neutral run: When completed, the LEGO factory aims to be carbon-neutral run, which means it can demonstrate net-zero emissions from electricity and fuel use [scope 1 and 2] using onsite or offsite renewable energy.
Solar plant onsite: 35,000-40,000 ground panels, 15,000-20,000 roof panels, 30-35 MW in total capacity.
Zero waste to landfill: The new factory shares the same ambition as all LEGO operations of achieving zero waste from factories to landfill.
Certification: The aim is to secure Gold LEED certification [Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design] for the building once it is completed including energy, water and waste.
Construction timeline
2024 H1: Packing in temporary building begins.
2025 H2: Production commences, solar plant completed.
LEGO Group in the USA
• The LEGO Group has had a presence in the US since its American entity, LEGO Systems Inc., was established in 1973 over 50 years ago
• Americas Headquarter in Enfield, Conn. since 1975. Moving to Boston, Mass. in 2026
• The LEGO Group employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S. There are currently around 740 people working full-time from its Enfield office.
• The company operates over 100 LEGO stores across the USA, including three stores in the Commonwealth of Virginia and a flagship store on 5th Ave. in New York City.
About the LEGO Group:
The LEGO Group’s mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through the power of play. The LEGO System in Play, with its foundation in LEGO bricks, allows children and fans to build and rebuild anything they can imagine. The LEGO Group was founded in Billund, Denmark in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen, its name derived from the two Danish words Leg Godt, which mean “Play Well”. Today, the LEGO Group remains a family-owned company headquartered in Billund. Its products are now sold in more than 130 countries worldwide.
For more information, visit LEGO.com.
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This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Chester: The LEGO Group breaks ground on carbon-neutral run factory
