Work has started on a new building at the University of Nottingham that will be a centre for energy research

The Research Acceleration & Demonstration (RAD) building is being built by Woodhead Construction at a cost of £5.4m.Built on the former Dairy Crest site on Triumph Road, the RAD building will be one of the first research centres to combine the sustainability standards of BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) with the principles of the German Passivhaus system.The 2500m2 centre will provide facilities for research and testing as part of the Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) initiative. ERA is an Innovate UK funded initiative involving six Midlands universities and the British Geological Survey (BGS).The RAD building will include laboratory space for research ranging from harvesting and storing wind energy, to the development of new materials for hydrogen storage.The architect for the RAD building is Lewis & Hickey, with BWB acting as structural & civil engineers and CPW as services engineer. Aecom is project managers and Turner & Townsend is the cost manager.