Apple’s Spaceship campus will only be ready in 2016

Apple’s plans for its new 260 000 square metre campus in Cupertino have hit some snags courtesy of an environmental impact report, according to AppleInsider. Initial plans to start construction in 2012, look more than likely to change to 2014, meaning that the project will likely only be completed in 2016.

Cupertino city manager David Brandt said: “They could conceivably break ground in 2013, but only if everything goes smoothly. The project is running a little bit slow.” Slightly altered plans were submitted to the city of Cupertino on 14 November, detailing the relocation of a proposed auditorium. But even though these plans were detailed in August already it was only submitted in November, making an approval in early 2013 unrealistic, said Brandt.

Four months before his death in June 2011, Steve Jobs presented the plans for the new campus, describing the building as looking “a little like a spaceship landed”, and since then it was dubbed the “Spaceship” because of its circular design and the intention of it being the “mothership” Apple campus. It will be built on grounds previously owned by Hewlett-Packard.

According to leaked plans, the Cupertino giant intends to employ more than 13 000 workers at the new mega campus with 10 500 underground parking bays. A planned auditorium would seat 1 000 people and a new research facility would cover 27 800 square metres. Apple intends to decrease its reliance on conventional electricity as well by constructing its own on-site power plant, “maximize efficiency and convenience” to employees, and create a “distinctive and inspiring 21st Century workplace” that will “exceed economic social and environmental sustainability goals through integrated design and development.”

Image: AppleInsider