Design team announced for £235m Sir Henry Royce Institute

The University of Manchester has selected NBBJ Architects, Arcadis, Arup and Ramboll to deliver the Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials on its Oxford Road campus.

The national institute was first announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne in the 2014 Autumn Statement. The institute will have its research centre in Manchester, and will be supported by satellite centres or ‘spokes’ at the founding partners, comprising the universities of Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College London.

A plot off Booth Street, between the Alan Turing Building on Upper Brook Street and the Aquatic Centre on Oxford Road will be the location for the Institute.

The new facility will be one of three in Manchester focused on research into the practical implications of graphene. The £61m National Graphene Institute opened in 2015, while planning permission is expected to be granted later this week to the £60m Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre at the university’s North campus.

The building will provide facilities to support research into four areas; energy, engineering, functional and soft materials.

Completion is expected in mid-2019. The total funding from the government is £235m.

Arcadis is project manager and cost manager, Ramboll the civil and structural engineer and Arup the building services engineer.

Mel Manku, partner at Arcadis, said: “We are thrilled to be appointed on the Sir Henry Royce Institute, building on our strong relationship with The University of Manchester following the successful delivery of the National Graphene Institute and development of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre; and recognising our established position in the higher education, science and research sector. We understand the importance of this nationally significant project and we are privileged to be able to influence the benefits this scheme will bring to Manchester and the UK.”