Award-winning Photocentric to be at heart of University of Peterborough innovation centre
An innovative Peterborough company will be at the heart of a multi-million pound research and development centre that will be a key part of the city’s new university.
3D printing specialists Photocentric will be the anchor tenant of the planned three-storey Manufacturing and Materials Research and Development Centre.
The triple Queen’s Award winning company will occupy 39 per cent of the 3,283sq metre centre that is expected to be completed in the financial year 2023/24.
The details are contained in a business plan put together by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and which will be discussed by its skills committeee on Monday.
The business plan outlines the creation of a special company, PropCo2, to manage the development, which will be the second phase of University of Peterborough.
Photocentric will hold 18 per cent of the shares in the new company and will invest £3 million in the centre’s development and will pay a ‘peppercorn’ rent for its use.
The combined authority will invest £14.6 million and hold 82 per cent of the shares.
The plan states: “The intention is to .... arrest four decades of decline in prosperity to reset Peterborough’s potential rate of recovery.
“Research performed there will create a wide range of technologies, including new energy storage devices, specifically car batteries, manufacture new products using sustainable plastics and print industrial parts as opposed to moulding them.”
The new centre will be home to cutting edge companies and create 237 jobs.
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