The Birmingham office of an international construction company has been appointed to the design team on a new £100 million Midland automotive centre.

Property and cost consultant Rider Levett Bucknall, based at Millenium Point, have been hired to lead the design and project manage the construction phase of the National Automotive Innovation Campus (NAIC) at The University of Warwick.

Other firms hired for the design are London architects Cullinan Studio, engineers Arup and London consultants Buro Four.

The campus in Westwood Heath, Coventry, will include a new building of around 15,000 sq m.

The construction contract will be procured through the Official Journal of the European Union, with work due to start in the last quarter of 2013.

Steven Jenkins, partner at RLB and key project lead, said: “This is one of the most exciting education-led capital projects in the UK, not least due to its size and scale, but also that it will play an instrumental role in further cementing the Midlands as an automotive hub and industry leader.

“The design and construction of the facility will be cutting edge in terms of long-term sustainability.

“This is to ensure that it is capable of meeting the needs of its users, which will include the country’s foremost academics and researchers in the sector.”

The NAIC is the result of a partnership between the university, Warwick Manufacturing Group, Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Motors European Technical Centre and funded by the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund.

The fund was launched with Government investment of £100 million in the 2012 Budget and aims to support long-term university capital projects.

The NAIC is part of the university’s wider masterplan, approved by the local planning authorities, with plans to increase the estate by 170,000 sq m.

The campus will include space for engineers, designers and academics to develop technologies to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and lower CO2 emissions.

It will also address a shortage of skilled research and development staff in the automotive supply chain, including the creation of apprenticeships and develop a stronger supplier base in the UK.