The University of Nottingham has opened the new Hybrid Propulsion Systems Building featuring the latest technology in cryogenic testing, alternative-fuel engines, altitude facilities and advanced manufacturing to help move propulsion technologies towards industrial use.
The new facility at the University of Nottingham gives researchers and companies a flexible platform to develop components and subsystems at meaningful power levels, connect them into integrated systems, and evaluate them under representative operating conditions.
This is a major UK capability for developing and testing electrification and hybrid propulsion technologies. It addresses a significant challenge: the UK has leading propulsion research, but emerging technologies can be difficult to mature beyond the laboratory as electrical, thermal, mechanical, environmental and fuel systems become increasingly interconnected. The capability will support aerospace, marine, rail, heavy-duty and off-highway transport, power generation and advanced defence platforms.
At its heart is a cryogenic research platform centred on a five-megawatt dynamometer, supported by high-power electrical infrastructure and closed-loop helium and nitrogen cooling. It will enable research into superconducting, hyperconducting and other cryogenically cooled electrical machines, power electronics and power systems.
Among its first programmes will be H2FlyGHT, an Aerospace Technology Institute-supported programme led by GKN Aerospace to develop megawatt-class cryogenic hydrogen-electric propulsion technology.
The building also brings together four major investments supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). TITANZ and ELSA provide capital facilities for megawatt-scale alternative-fuel engine research and electrical drive systems altitude testing. They align with two EPSRC programme grants: MariNH₃, advancing ammonia and hydrogen propulsion, and Sustainable, Multi-sector Electrification using Advanced Integrated Motor Drive Technologies (AIMD). A flexible electrical machine manufacturing line will also enable representative components and assemblies to be produced using industry-like processes.
The difficult step is moving from a promising laboratory result to representative hardware that can be manufactured, connected and tested at meaningful power. This building provides that missing platform, helping reduce development risk and retain expertise, intellectual property and future industrial activity in the UK.
The UK has outstanding research in advanced propulsion, but turning new ideas into technologies for industry needs specialist facilities at meaningful scale. Research England's investment through the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund in the new Hybrid Propulsion Systems Building will translate important research into commercial opportunity. It will not only strengthen a world-leading capability, but the co-investment with industry in research excellence will drive economic growth in the region and beyond.
The building forms part of a connected innovation ecosystem across Nottingham's Jubilee Campus, linking research, advanced manufacturing, large-scale testing, hydrogen capability, industrial co-location and support for spin-out companies.
The Hybrid Propulsion Systems Building and wider zero carbon translation centre for powering future transport and power generation have been supported through more than £70 million of public and private investment from Research England, EPSRC, East Midlands Freeport, the University of Nottingham and industrial partners.
The transition to cleaner and more capable transport and power systems represents a major industrial opportunity for the UK. By combining research excellence with the infrastructure needed to develop technologies at scale, we can help turn new ideas into practical systems, attract investment and support highly skilled jobs in the East Midlands and across the country.
The facility was unveiled on 6 July 2026, with its principal capabilities operational or in the final stages of installation and commissioning during 2026.
