£60m facility set to become global leader in propulsion technology

A facility to deliver future generations of clean and efficient vehicles has moved a step closer with the approval of detailed plans for a new £60m research and innovation centre at the Bristol and Bath Science Park. South Gloucestershire Council recently gave the go-ahead for the Institution of Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS), an initiative by the University of Bath to exploit its engineering expertise for the benefit of the UK’s automotive sector.
 
At an automotive industry networking event held at the University last month, Mark Mathieson, director of Innovation at McLaren Applied Technologies, commented: “No-one should underestimate the size of the challenge we are facing. It is widely accepted the automotive industry is going to change more in the next ten years than it has in the past 100 years; so there is an awful lot of things for us to face up to, and collaborating and sharing knowledge is key to that.”

Stride Treglown is the lead consultant for IAAPS, designing the overall building envelope, office spaces and site-wide development. Bath-based DKA will apply specialist automotive expertise to develop and coordinate the design of the complex testing facilities.
When complete, the University expects IAAPS to stimulate over £67m in additional automotive research investment by 2025, creating an additional turnover of £800 million for the UK automotive sector and supporting nearly 1,900 new jobs. The institute will support the development of a larger automotive business cluster in the area by providing access to its state-of-the art facilities to regional companies. 

Professor Gary Hawley, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering & Design at the University of Bath, commented: “Through the IAAPS open access model, academics, automotive industry partners and small and medium-sized enterprises will be able to work on challenging research with access to world-class research infrastructure and people. This will promote greater collaboration and the sharing of expertise to advance knowledge.”

Lucy Nordberg
TenderStream Head of Research

This competition was first published by TenderStream on 23.10.2018 here

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