Plans to create a centre of excellence for advanced manufacturing at Sheffield Business Park have taken a big step forward as Sheffield City Council approved plans for Factory 2050.
The £43 million stunning circular building will combine a range of technologies, including advanced robotics, flexible automation, unmanned workspace, off-line printing in virtual environments linked to plug-and-play robotics, 3D printing from flexible automated systems, man-machine interfaces, and new programming and training tools.
The state of the art development will be built by the University of Sheffield, consolidating the success of their investment in the original Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre on the Advanced Manufacturing Park at Catcliffe. Since the first University building opened there in 2004, four further new buildings and two extensions have been added to provide a current total of around 30,000 sq. m of accommodation.
The new location – sited directly opposite the existing developments on the other side of the Parkway – will help to secure Sheffield’s place at the heart of advanced manufacturing in the UK and
as a key player on the global stage.