The Henry Royce Institute for advanced materials is a new research facility for The University of Manchester.

The Henry Royce Institute for advanced materials is a new research facility for The University of Manchester (UoM), and a hub for a network of founding partners across the country. Extending across 9 floors and located at the heart of The University of Manchester's campus, it will foster world-class collaborative research in tandem with industry to act as an international convener for materials research excellence.

Learning from our previous work on the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre, our early involvement allowed us to embed cost certainty into the design. Responsible for design, build and partial fit-out, we were appointed as principal contractor through the UoM Construction Partnering Framework.

By engaging early with our partners - NBBJ, Arup, Ramboll and Arcadis - and the client, our solution removed all waste without affecting the programme or the client’s funding model, and continued into construction without delays. Early involvement of our in-house structural specialist, Expanded, and chosen facade supplier, Inasus, helped to de-risk key structural interfaces.

Working as a unified team, together with our own in-house supply chain including Crown House Technologies, Select, Expanded and our Geotechnical piling partners we provided a seamless and cohesive delivery. DfMA allowed us to meet stringent vibration criteria and MEP modules, created at Crown House Manufacturing's Oldbury facility, reduced programme time whilst ensuring high quality product.

The project saw the installation of the very first 'Megariser' that was manufactured in Oldbury. By manufacturing offsite we reduced the traditional 16-week installation period to just two weeks.