The city’s Sackville Street has been selected for the site of a new £60m (~€76m) Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre with the possibility of preparations for its construction beginning later this month.
The new centre will research further potential uses for the ‘wonder material’ to be added to its already extensive list of applications.
Last year saw the opening of the £60m National Graphene Institute (NGI) on Booth Street East. The NGI is considering the development and expansion of its site whilst a third building, the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, is under proposition.
All new buildings will be situated on or near to the University of Manchester’s Oxford Road Campus and city planners and politicians welcome the prospect of investment in the area. Government Chancellor George Osborne said: “Scientific innovation is at the heart of our long term economic plan and this investment shows we are delivering.
“Graphene is potentially a game-changer – its properties make it one of the most important commercial scientific breakthroughs in recent memory. It presents tremendous opportunities with the potential to provide thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of further investment.
“This new centre, alongside the National Graphene Institute, has put Manchester and the UK in pole position to take advantage of these opportunities and lead the world in this exciting new technology.”
UK Government research grants will form part of the funding for the latest building with significant investment also being supplied by Masdar, a Mubadala affiliation located in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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