Planning permission has been granted for construction of the National Manufacturing Institute in Scotland.
Situated on Netherton Campus at the centre of the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) in Renfrewshire, the council’s planning authority gave the green light to plans for the brand new energy carbon-neutral building.
At around 1.5 times the size of Hampden football pitch, the facility will include a skills academy, a fully digitalised factory of the future and a collaboration hub. The new facility will help support manufacturing and engineering firms of all sizes and from all sectors across the country, and internationally, to innovate and grow their businesses.
NMIS is a group of industry-led manufacturing research and development facilities where industry, academia and the public sector work together on ground-breaking manufacturing research to transform productivity levels, make companies more competitive and boost the skills of our current and future workforce.
It is operated by the University of Strathclyde and supported by Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, High-Value Manufacturing Catapult, Skills Development Scotland, Scottish Funding Council and Renfrewshire Council.
NMIS will be an international centre of expertise where research, industry and the public sector will work together to make Scotland a global leader in advanced manufacturing and attract investment.
Professor Sir Jim McDonald, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Strathclyde
The new facility, along with the NMIS specialist technology centres: Lightweight Manufacturing Centre and Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre; the only High-Value Manufacturing Catapult Centre in Scotland, are key facilities in the manufacturing innovation district being developed next to Glasgow Airport, with Netherton Campus also home to the Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Centre.
Construction is well underway on the district’s enabling infrastructure, funded through the Glasgow City Region City Deal.