Science institute and theatre promised for Manchester

MANCHESTER received a double boost from Chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Statement as more than £300m was committed to major science and arts projects.

The lion’s share of the cash, £235m, will go to a new Sir Henry Royce Institute for Advanced Materials Science based in the city, with branches in Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield.

Academics are understood to have responded to the Chancellor’s challenge for Northern universities to propose a “Crick of the North” when he delivered his “Northern Powerhouse” speech in Manchester in June. The Crick Institute is a £700m centre in London for life science research that opens next year.

The Government has already backed the £60m National Graphene Institute in Manchester and the city is to get a second building dedicated to the commercialisation of the material called the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre. The university already hosts the BP centre for advanced materials and construction work has started on a £65m materials centre at Liverpool University which has the backing of Unilever.

For the arts, there was £78m for a new cultural facility called The Factory Manchester, which will become a new permanent home for the Manchester International Festival.

Based on the former Granada Studios site, The Factory Manchester will be a flexible arts space capable of transforming from a 2,200 seat theatre to an artistic environment with a standing capacity of up to 5,000.

Manchester City Council said that within a decade it will help create, directly or indirectly, the equivalent of 2,300 full time jobs and be adding £134m a year to our economy.

The Chancellor said: “I am delighted to today give Government support to this major new cultural and theatrical space in Manchester. I have always said that culture is a key part of the Northern Powerhouse. I think that the name that has been suggested is absolutely brilliant. The Factory is Mancunian to the core.”

Michael Ingall, chief executive of Allied London which is developing the Granada site as the St John’s Quarter, said: “The Factory Manchester will play a powerful part in the creation of St Johns. There will be several important complementary parts to this new neighbourhood and all these parts will come together to create a purpose and a soul, with culture, art and performance mixed with enterprise to create a very exciting place to be and to live and work.”