Daresbury’s £80m grant to fund new science centres
Two science centres have been given the go-ahead at Daresbury following investment announced today by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
An £80m capital contribution, provided through the Government's Large Facilities Capital Fund, will finance a computer sciences centre and a research facility to develop detector systems at the Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus.
One centre will enable research in computer modeling to understand and predict issues from climate change variability to how cells interact in the body, and the other will concentrate on sensor development for use in security systems and biomedical imaging.
Steven Broomhead, chief executive of the North West Development Agency, said: "Following news last week from STFC and Manchester University that the future of Jodrell Bank is now secure, today's announcement, bolstering the work, just down the road at Daresbury concludes an amazing three months for our science and innovation sector.
"The £50m earmarked from the Large Facilities Capital Fund to create the Hartree Institute of Computational Science at Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus and £30m to create a new Sensors Institute, jointly between Daresbury and Harwell is very welcome news. This is a significant commitment from DIUS to the long-term role of Daresbury, as one of the two UK national Science and Innovation Campuses.
"The investments come shortly after the NWDA's own announcement with St Modwen, revealing £25m of private sector investment for grow-on space for companies, which is to be built at the Daresbury campus, adjoining the already successful Daresbury Innovation Centre and the Cockroft Institute."
