Education

Manchester Metropolitan unveils £6m 3D printing hub

Manchester Metropolitan UniversityandTatton Estate Managementhave revealed plans for a £6 million, 40,000 sq ft 3D printing facility in Cheshire’s Yarwood Heath Farm site.

An agreement to jointly develop the Cheshire 3D Print Hub, C3D, will be signed by both parties on Thursday, March 15.

C3D will be located on the Yarwood Heath Farm site, near Manchester Airport, between Altrincham and Knutsford. Image via Tatton Group.
C3D will be located on the Yarwood Heath Farm site, near Manchester Airport, between Altrincham and Knutsford. Image via Tatton Group.

MMU’s expanding 3D Printing ambitions

中心形成一个扩展of MMU’s existingcentral Manchester 3D PrintCity facilitiesand will accommodate the region’s developing industrial digital technologies market. Prof. Craig Bank, chair in Electrochemical and Nanotechnology at MMU, says that the university will achieve this by supporting SMEs through postgraduate research projects and academic expertise, which could “take ideas from concept through to commercialisation”. Tatton Estate has allocated other parts of the Yarwood Heath Farm site to science and technology businesses.

Peter Gough, a lecture at MMU using the existing PrintCity facilities. Image via MMU.
Peter Gough, a lecture at MMU using the existing PrintCity facilities. Image via MMU.

C3D joins other facilities in the Cheshire Science Corridor, an enterprise zone designed to attract jobs and businesses to the area, includingCapenhurst Technology Park,Thornton Science Parkand theAlderley Park bioscience campus.

3D printing in Manchester is also well represented. Projects include a 3D printing lab atNorth Manchester General Hospital(NMGH) – that brings the technology in-house and is likely tosave some of the £120,000 ($166,000) spent annuallyon outsourced 3D printing.

BiOspace, the area’s first开放实验室and research intobio-printing at the University of Manchesterare other areas where Manchester is applying 3D printing.

Looking forward

For the Bank, the long term goal project is “to create an open and inclusive science and technology hub. It will enhance our research and innovation infrastructure and capacities to develop excellence and promote business investment, including for SMEs”. Henry Brooks, Tatton Group’s managing director said “C3D will help contribute to the global imperative for the UK and the North West to increase manufacturing, to create wealth, jobs and social cohesion”.

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