Rochdale’s Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre has been completed at Kingsway Business Park, giving scientists and manufacturers a facility to test new materials for medicine, electronics and construction and move laboratory discoveries towards commercially viable products.

The 30,000 sq ft building is the first major development in the 25-acre Atom Valley Innovation District; specialist equipment will be fitted before it becomes fully operational in 2027, with testing planned for strength, electrical conductivity and outdoor weathering.

Independent analysis forecasts the centre will generate £107m of economic value over ten years, a 2:1 return on public investment, supported by Greater Manchester’s Industrial Strategy Zone funding, Towns Fund allocations and a further £12m from Rochdale Borough Council.

Researchers will work with the University of Manchester, where graphene was discovered in 2004; its development has been held back by the cost of producing it in large quantities.

Atom Valley, a Greater Manchester Mayoral Development Zone across Oldham, Rochdale and Bury close to the M62, has the potential to create up to 20,000 skilled jobs across 17m sq ft of employment space, with a planned tram-train line linking Bury, Heywood, Rochdale and Oldham; the University of Manchester is the research partner.

Professor John Holden, vice-president for civic engagement and innovation at the University of Manchester, said the facility will help scientists use newly invented materials in their businesses. Julie Murphy, chief executive of Rochdale Council, said the vision is for advanced manufacturing businesses to be established on vacant land around the centre, while Paul Ormerod, chair of the Atom Valley Mayoral Development Zone, said the aim is a cluster of advanced manufacturers creating high-paid jobs.

The centre reflects a shared-facility model, where public-funded testing capacity lets businesses validate new materials without building laboratories of their own.

For the sector, the centre is the first physical anchor for a district planning up to 20,000 skilled jobs across 17m sq ft of employment space, with most of that space still to be built.

The wider signal for the sector is that devolved Mayoral Development Zones are being used to pair university research with local manufacturing land, aiming to revive economies in Oldham, Rochdale and Bury.

Source: BBC News / The Manufacturer / Invest in Manchester / University of Manchester