University of Manchester Opens Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre

The University of Manchester opened the £60 million Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre in December of 2018 in the United Kingdom. Located in the new 91,000-sf Masdar Building on the North campus, the facility will accommodate collaborative materials science research and development with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Khalifa University of Science and Technology. Providing two continuous floorplates of modular, flexible research space with reconfigurable partitions, the building provides sophisticated labs, pilot production facilities, open and closed offices, and a variety of breakout areas. The project team included Rafael Viñoly Architects, project manager Arcadis, general contractor Laing O'Rourke, and mechanical engineer Balfour Beatty Kilpatrick. BREEAM Excellent sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility, which was funded in part by Masdar, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company.