BAM Construction has secured a £6 million contract to construct a new factory in Bradford-On-Avon.

The facility is being built for AB Dynamics, a supplier of testing systems to the motor industry for development, research and production quality control.

SRA Architects, based in Bath, designed the scheme which comprises the design and construction of a new engineering and workshop facility along with a two storey office.

On a greenfield site, BAM will erect a steel framed new factory and associated offices including a bespoke fit out for the specialist nature of the firm’s automotive operations.

Included in the external works are hard and soft landscaping, car parking, service yard, secure fencing and gates with a tree and shrub planting scheme.

The new building will be oriented to minimise the solar heat gain and the roof will have studded north facing skylights.

This will maximise the amount of natural light on the manufacturing ground floor and in the first floor offices.

Tony Best founded AB Dynamics in 1982 and the company supplied the first steering robot for quantitative vehicle testing on the track in 1998 and has now supplied more than 600 driving robot systems throughout the world.

The company was also an early pioneer of the use of an inertial GPS motion pack to control the path of a vehicle in 2001 and six years later was one of the first manufacturers to sell a system for testing driverless vehicles.

Neil Dorrington, BAM Construction Director, commented: “This is a fascinating scheme that requires our technical experience and a close working partnership with our client. It also shows our versatility in our markets, sitting well alongside our other technically challenging buildings like the Living Systems Institute for Exeter University.”

BAM is currently engaging in several weeks of enabling works while contracts are being finalised. The new building is scheduled to hand over in autumn 2017.