Now that Las Vegas is home to Formula 1, there was a need for a state-of-the-art destination where fans could watch the highly anticipated race and a pit area for each of the race teams. The solution was this three-floor, 292,266-sq-ft concrete pit building, which stands 1,000 ft long by 100 ft wide.

Pit crew garages for participating teams occupy the first floor, the second and third floors offer hospitality and event space with outdoor terraces and the roof serves as an additional entertainment space with clear views of the race.

Demolition began in June 2022, and the entire site had to be raised in order to create a plinth upon which the building would sit. This required more than 250,000 cu yd of engineered fill to level the site for both the building and racetrack.

With such a fast-paced project—12 months from start to finish—occasional modifications were made to the design of the pit building as construction progressed. One of these included a 28,000-sq-ft LED display of the Formula 1 logo on the roof of the building.

Photo courtesy The Penta Building Group

Another change called for the addition of a 450-ft-long by 36-ft-wide pedestrian tunnel on the northern side of the building for pedestrians to safely pass from parking, lodging and resort facilities by going underneath the racetrack to the pit building.

As sequencing on the project moved from south to north, the contractor had to stop the building short by approximately 100 ft to allow for enough time to complete the tunnel’s design. After expedited permitting, crews also had to install a beam and lagging wall to complete this scope.

A concrete structure was chosen to avoid longer lead times for a steel structure. But it did require finalizing rebar details and shop drawings and purchasing reinforcing steel.

An expansion joint strategically placed in the middle of the structure allowed for construction to be sequenced as if there were two 500-ft-long buildings. By treating the building as two individual structures, the contractor was able to utilize two separate crews that started at either end and met in the middle, saving time.

Photo courtesy The Penta Building Group

More than 4,000 people worked on the Formula 1 pit building. At the project’s peak, about 500 workers were on site during the day along with 100 during night shifts, all of which necessitated keen attention to worker safety.

According to PENTA Building Group, in addition to multiple specialty orientations, weekly stand-downs and daily toolbox topics, the project’s safety plan emphasized issues related to the accelerated schedule, proximity to the public around the Strip and extreme summer temperatures.

Preparations included hyper-attention to a clean, organized and safe jobsite, special air-conditioned cooling stations and water brigades and fall-arrest systems that could easily be moved with a crane.

With more than 4,000 people working throughout the course of the project, and an estimated 1.56 million total worker hours on the job, PENTA reported that there was only one lost-time incident involving one of the contractor's trade partners.

The project team delivered the Formula 1 racing facility on time and within budget in October 2023.