Composite manufacturing hub approved in Nottingham

The University of Nottingham has secured a multimillion pound investment to build a composite manufacturing hub.

The £10.3m Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Future Composites Manufacturing Hub will aim to quicken the development of potential advanced polymer composite materials for automated manufacturing. Nottingham and Bristol Universities have formed a partnership in order to create a hub and spoke model with a number of initial partners across the country.

Professor Andrew Long, Pro-Vice Chancellor at the University of Nottingham, who will lead the hub, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be leading this initiative, which aims to underpin the growth of the British composites sector. This award will ensure that the UK academic community remains at the forefront of composites manufacturing research well into the next decade.”

The EPSRC Manufacturing Hub will also address automation and high rate processing, recycling and re-use and multifunctional material and structures. More than 70 composite experts, situated at the Advanced Manufacturing Building, due for completion this year, will work in partnership with multiple industrial partners.

This hub is one of six EPSRC-funded research hubs announced by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to explore and improve manufacturing techniques. The other hubs will be led by universities in Cardiff, Huddersfield, Sheffield, Strathclyde and London (UCL).

Jo Johnson MP, Universities and Science Minister, said: “Developing new innovative manufacturing techniques will help UK industry create new products, explore more business opportunities and ensure the UK becomes more competitive and productive.”