Major plans have been outlined for a multi-million pound 3D printing facility in Cheshire.
Property firm Tatton Estate and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) are teaming up to create the tech facility between Altrincham and Knutsford and close to Manchester Airport.
The two parties will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at property and investment event MIPIM in Cannes this week.
The Cheshire 3D Print Hub (C3D) is expected to deliver an initial investment of £6m in the North West, located on the Tatton Estate’s Yarwood Heath Farm, part of its Cheshire Gateway scheme.
C3D will provide grow-on incubation space to accommodate the emerging North West Industrial Digital Technologies market and supplement MMU’s existing central Manchester PrintCity facilities.
It will consist of 40,000 sq ft of existing buildings accessed directly from Junction 7 of the M56 and the new Knutsford-Bowdon A556 dual carriageway.
“C3D is a very exciting prospect, regionally, nationally and internationally,” said Tatton Group managing director Henry Brooks.
“It will help contribute to the global imperative for the UK and the North West to increase manufacturing, to create wealth, jobs and social cohesion.
“It will also become an integral part of Cheshire’s international corridor of science and innovation which has some of the most significant science based assets in the north of England, some of which are of global importance.”
Professor Craig Banks, personal chair in Electrochemical and Nanotechnology at Manchester Met and Faculty of Science and Engineering lead for Research and Knowledge Exchange, added: “The long-term ambition of the project is to create an open and inclusive science and technology hub.
“It will enhance our research and innovation infrastructure and capacities to develop excellence and promote business investment, including for SMEs.”
The Cheshire Science Corridor currently comprises: Capenhurst Technology Park, Thornton Science Park, Sci-Tech Daresbury (in Liverpool City Region LEP area), Birchwood Park’s Nuclear and Forensics Clusters, Alderley Park (Life Sciences), Jodrell Bank and the Square Kilometre Array, the largest and most sensitive radio telescope in the world.
The Tatton Group is part of the Cheshire and Warrington delegation attending MIPIM, led by the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), alongside Cheshire West and Chester Council, Cheshire East Council and Warrington Borough Council and 30 private sector partners.