Member Article

New Sheffield £90 million glass innovation centre to ‘create hundreds of jobs’

Sheffield is set for the development of a £90 million innovation centre which will reportedly create ‘hundreds’ of jobs.

Trade body the British Glass Manufacturers’ Confederation, which is based in Sheffield and is leading the British Glass Innovation Centre aims to make the centre a leader of R&D in the industry.

The centre will be located on Sheffield Business Park Phase 2, close to University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).

Currently, the UK has limited capability to create large-scale sheet glass suitable for construction, requiring projects to import materials.

The initial £25 million project, which will create four “pods” for research and development facilities, is already financially committed on paper.

30 jobs will be created once this first phase is complete, then it will then be extended to include conferencing and education facilities.

Siemens confirmed last week that it was investing £4 million funding to the UK glass sector after working with British Glass.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has also previously announced £5 million funding for the British Glass Innovation Centre as part of the Sheffield City Regional Growth Deal.

Dave Dalton, chief executive at British Glass, told The Yorkshire Post: “The project is about upskilling UK Manufacturing plc. In order to become competitive again, we need to develop manufacturing and engineering skills.”

Mr Dalton said Sheffield has a long history of industry training, including a strong heritage of glass manufacturing at university level. “We want to reinvent that,” he said.

Members of the British Glass Manufacturers Confederation will not be expected to commit to heavy financial investment in the Innovation Centre project.

British Glass chief executive Mr Dalton said funding from Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), central Government and partners like Siemens will provide significant funds.

While British Glass members, such as Sheffield’s Beatson Clark, will contribute, Mr Dalton said they do not want to commit “a large amount of their own money” to the facilities.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .