Rydon beat three other tenders to win a £30m deal to build a new building for the Institute for Advanced Automotive Propulsion Systems (IAAPS) at the Bristol and Bath Science Park.
The state-of-the-art building will house equipment to allow detailed research into transitioning to ultra-low-emission vehicles, including the continued electrification of vehicles, as well as layouts and configurations of the propulsion system for driverless cars.
Architects Stride Treglown and DKA have been appointed as the design team for IAAPS.
The £70m facility will house climate-controlled rolling roads to evaluate and optimise complete vehicle performance in real-world conditions and is expected to attract millions of pounds worth of private sector investment.
Installation of the new equipment will begin in January 2020, with a number of test facilities operational from November 2020. The IAAPS is set to fully open in 2021.