West of England Metro Mayor Dan Norris recently paid a visit to the newly opened IAAPS facility at the Bristol and Bath Science Park. He was shown around the £70 million, 11,000m² building, which has been co-funded by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership, in partnership with the University of Bath and the UK Government’s Research England.

Ahead of the official operational launch of IAAPS later this year, Mr Norris was able to take an exclusive look inside the purpose-built powertrain cells, chassis dynamometer cells, propulsion cells and component level cells and given an overview of IAAPS’ commercial focus, capabilities and research areas as well as its expanding scope into crucial market sectors, in particular aerospace and hydrogen, both of which he highlighted as being of strategic importance to the West of England region.

He was particularly interested in IAAPS’ new hydrogen plant, which is set to be operational in the spring of next year, and which will not only decarbonise the energy used on the site by reducing the whole building carbon footprint, but also support vital R&D of H₂ propulsion technologies.

With transport accounting for around 44% of the region’s CO₂ emissions, Mr Norris said the brand new research and innovation centre will be a vital contributor to the realisation of the West of England’s decarbonisation agenda.

He said: “If we are going to reach our ambitious ‘net zero’ targets, the transport sector must shift gear to clean up and reduce its emissions. This world-leading research centre, funded by a £10 million cash injection from the West of England Combined Authority, is a significant boost to our long-term ambitions for greener transport and shows just how much of a key player the West of England is becoming in the fight against the climate and ecological crisis we face.”

He concluded: “IAAPS is a ‘state of the art’ facility and that is hugely important because our region is one of the most vital areas in the world for aerospace, automotive and future technologies. So it is great to see this impressive, ahead-of-its time facility and I am buoyed by its significance and potential.”