HIGH-tech engineering firm AB Dynamics has opened its new £10 million Engineering Design Centre in Bradford on Avon.

The new building on the Holt Road will house the company’s growing engineering and design teams to develop state-of-the-art driving simulators and track testing solutions.

The £10m investment is in response to significant growth at the company which has led to a requirement to expand.

Mark Allman, AB Dynamics’ managing director, said: “AB Dynamics has grown significantly over the last few years and in order to continue that trend we needed to expand.

“The new EDC enables us to provide our engineering and software teams with a purpose-built, dedicated facility.

“By bringing the teams together under one roof we are able to improve collaboration throughout the company and ultimately develop better products for our customers.”

AB Dynamics plc is a designer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced testing systems and measurement products to the global automotive industry.

The facility will be used to develop a new version of AB Dynamics’ state-of-the-art driving simulator. The company supplies simulators to vehicle manufacturers, Tier 1 suppliers and Formula 1 teams, including Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN.

It is also being used to develop market-leading vehicle test equipment, which is used by more than 25 of the biggest vehicle manufacturers in the world and organisations, such as Euro NCAP, to improve the safety of vehicles.

The building was designed to be highly efficient and achieved an energy performance certificate rating of ‘A’. The 3,000 square metre facility uses solar panels to create more than 60,000 kilowatts of electricity a year.

The Wiltshire campus currently has eight electric vehicle charging points installed with the infrastructure available to expand this as demand increases.

There is also a wild grass and flower meadow currently under development to encourage and protect wildlife in the area.

Construction of the facility began in 2019 and was completed in 2021. It has since been fully fitted out, the teams have moved in and is now officially open.

AB Dynamics employs 200 people in the UK and the new Engineering Design Centre will house around 100 people.

The company has abandoned plans to develop a centre at the other end of Holt Road close to the Farmer’s roundabout at Melksham.

The site is currently for sale on the open market as there is no longer a requirement for it now that the EDC is operational.