National Transport Design Centre
For almost a century Britain has been known as a global leader when it comes to transport design and engineering, with the city of Coventry at its heart.
But despite recent growth in the car industry and the country’s design economy, research carried out by Coventry University has identified a need for improved education for the vehicle design sector to meet urgent demand for creative roles such as modellers.
As a result of this research, Coventry University – over 40 years after launching the UK’s first degree in automotive design – is giving budding transport stylists and industry professionals a boost to map out their future careers and drive growth.
The university, through its Centre for Mobility and Transport, has created the state-of-the-art National Transport Design Centre (NTDC) to teach and inspire the next generation of vehicle designers.
Launched in 2017, the multi-million pound centre of design excellence is supporting UK innovation in the transport industry and providing greater opportunities for designers to join the automotive, aerospace, rail and marine worlds.
The centre is set to meet a range of needs from across industry, with a focus being on collaborative research projects, postgraduate education in transport design, and support for the UK’s high-value manufacturing sector and its supply chain to improve design capability.
By 2020 it’s expected that the UK will produce more than two million vehicles per year in the motor industry alone, creating around 9,000 extra jobs in manufacturing, and potentially 28,000 more across the supply chain. The NTDC and Centre for Mobility and Transport will be well-placed to support these sectors to continue to grow by providing first-class facilities for current and future generations.
