CHANCELLOR George Osborne yesterday unveiled during his Autumn Statement plans for a major new £235m science research centre for Manchester.
"This is a momentous announcement for Manchester and the UK, which underlines the University of Manchester's world-class credentials and adds significant momentum to the city's major role at the leading edge of global advanced material research"
In amongst the talk of deficits, taxes, property and the UK's role in reaching Mars came some great news for the city in the wake of last month's £59m budget cut announcement.
Not only will the city get a major new £78m arts and theatre space - The Factory Manchester - in Allied London's St John's Quarter development at the former Granada Studios, but Manchester will also welcome another major new science institute at the University.
A pensive Osborne on the Metrolink last month
The near quarter of a billion pound Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials Research and Innovation will be developed in Manchester, alongside satellite branches in Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield, as part of Osborne's aim to create a 'Northern Powerhouse' to rival London's thriving economy.
It is hoped the new centre will allow the UK to grow its world-leading research base in advanced-materials science, including the development and commercialisation of graphene, the world's new 'wonder material' first discovered at Manchester University in 2004.
Tatton MP Osborne said during his Autumn Statement: "Scientific advance is a human endeavour worthy of support in its own right. It is also crucial to our economic future.
"In 2010, the UK was ranked fourteenth in the Global Innovation Index. Today we are ranked second. But we aim to be the best."
The new announcement comes only three months after Osborne confirmed a new £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) for the university (due to open in 2017) to compliment the currently under-construction National Graphene Institute (NGI) - also at the Manchester University and due to open in Spring 2015.
The Graphene Institute will open next year
The University of Manchester’s President and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, said: “This considerable investment in UK science – the largest single funding agreement in our University’s history – is testament to the outstanding research in advanced materials carried out in Manchester and at the new Institute’s partner organisations.”
Manchester City Council Leader Sir Richard Leese said: “This is a momentous announcement for Manchester and the UK, which underlines the University of Manchester's world-class credentials and adds significant momentum to the city's major role at the leading edge of global advanced material research.
"It's something for which we have long campaigned. The potential for the applications of such materials is vast and they will play a major part in realising the economic potential of Manchester, Greater Manchester and the North as a whole.”
*Sir Henry Royce famously met with Charles Rolls in Manchester's Midland Hotel in 1904 and founded the Rolls-Royce company.
