Work has started on a new permanent home for more than three-quarters of the UK's Science Museum Group's vast collection of artefacts.

Called the Science Museum Group’s National Collections Centre, more than 340,000 items – 80 per cent of the Science Museum Group's collection – will be housed at the facility in Wroughton, Wiltshire, UK.

Construction company Kier will build the property, which among its offerings, will feature a NASA space shuttle flight simulator chair, a Citroen DS19 driverless car dating back to 1960 and a Chinese incense clock.

Planning was approved for the centre in May 2018 and construction started last month. The complex will stretch to an area of 280,000sq ft (26,013sq m).

"This is a hugely important step towards our goal of transforming the way we care for and share the extraordinary objects in our collection," said Jonathan Newby, Science Museum Group COO.

"We're very grateful to Swindon Borough Council, Wroughton Parish Council and all the local people who came forward to support this project and we look forward to starting construction of the facility."

The outlet will open to the public for visits, school visits and research visits in 2023, while Science Museum Group items will begin making their way to the facility in 2020.

Other firms involved in the project are Pegasus (planning consultants), GWP Architecture (architects), Feasibility (project management), Atkins (structural and civil engineering) and DESCO (building services engineering).