Overall project cost for the new facility is £61m, with funding coming from the European Regional Development Fund (£23m) and the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (£38m).
The NGI, designed by architect Jestico + Whiles, will be dedicated to finding commercial uses for graphene, which was discovered by Manchester’s Nobel prize winning scientists Professors Andre Geim and Kostantin Novoselov.
The material is said to be 200 times stronger than steel and just one atom thick, making it the strongest, thinnest and most conductive material ever measured.
The NGI building will be a 7,626 square-metre five-storey building o the main university campus.
The client project team includes EC Harris as lead consultant undertaking client project management and cost management. CH2M Hill is providing specialist architectural laboratory design and M&E consultant services advice. Ramboll, as civil and structural engineer, will be novated from EC Harris to BAM. BAM Design will provide technical architect services.
BAM construction director Ged Flanagan said: “It is particularly pleasing to have been chosen as preferred contractor for this prestigious project as it continues our long association with the University of Manchester that included the construction of the Alan Turing building in 2007. The National Graphene Institute will be a landmark building in every respect and we are looking forward to getting started.”
Completion is scheduled for 2015.
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