The LEGO Group broke ground on its new carbon-neutral run factory in Chesterfield County near Richmond, Virginia, USA. 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 on-site 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 percent by 2032. It will use the latest energy-efficient production equipment while buildings and manufacturing processes are designed to minimize energy use.
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.
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 8 weeks for the secondary caregiver to be decided by the parents.
