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Centre will house tlatest technologies in 3D additive manufacturing, digital manufacturing and nanocharacterisation

Royce Discovery Centre in Sheffield reaches key construction milestone

  • New cutting-edge research centre will transform how we discover new materials to help meet the needs of manufacturing and industry
  • The Royce Discovery Centre, part of the Henry Royce Institute in Sheffield, will focus on early-stage research on materials discovery and processing

The Royce Discovery Centre has reached a key milestone in its construction as the building is handed over to staff at the University of Sheffield.

As part of the Henry Royce Institute in Sheffield, the new research centre will focus on early-stage, fundamental research into the discovery of new materials and processing.

Expected to be fully operational in 2021, the centre will feature state-of-the-art specialist laboratories and workshops, and will house the very latest technologies in 3D additive manufacturing, digital manufacturing and nanocharacterisation.

The center is based within the new Harry Brearly Building named after the renowned local metallurgist. Despite the huge challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, construction has been completed on the building on Portobello Street – in the heart of the University of Sheffield’s campus.

The facility will benefit from the very latest in world class equipment provided by the Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials, alongside specialist equipment already based at the University in its Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

The centre will work alongside the Royce Translational Centre, based at Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), to take these new research discoveries and work with companies to help apply them to their manufacturing challenges.

It will also work with the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Engineering to train the next generation of materials scientists in order to bridge the UK’s skills gap in this area.

Professor Mark Rainforth, Principal Investigator at the Henry Royce Institute in Sheffield, said:

Five years ago we were asked by the government to create a world-leading Materials Science and Engineering Institute. We believe we have done just that.

The Royce Discovery Centre will fulfil our vision of delivering world-class materials discovery and manufacturing and provide an international statement on developing future technologies.

Prof David Knowles, CEO at the Henry Royce Institute said:

It is fantastic to see the Royce Discovery Centre achieve this key construction milestone. The research undertaken in this new facility will provide a major contribution to the delivery of Royce’s vision of ‘Advanced Materials for a Sustainable Society’, enabling innovation and world-leading research in sustainable manufacturing.

As part of the national institute, the Royce Discovery Centre strengthens the UK’s research and development facilities portfolio supporting both industry and academia in advanced materials research and innovation.

The University of Sheffield leads Royce’s Advanced Metals Processing research area building on the UK’s strengths and providing the support to deliver innovative metals processing technologies and novel alloy solutions. This will enable the UK metal industries to transition to a resource-efficient, zero-pollution, digitalized and agile future.

Click here to find out more about the Henry Royce Institute in Sheffield.

Media contact: Sean Barton, Media Relations Officer, University of Sheffield, 0114 222 9852, s.barton@sheffield.ac.uk