Advanced Manufacturing Park - Development History

Development History

2012

Harworth Estates has exchanged contracts with Rolls-Royce plc on 17.4 acres of land at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), Waverley, Rotherham, South Yorkshire. This site is within the area that is being promoted as the Sheffield City Region Enterprise Zone.

Work has already begun on building the first of these facilities, the new Rolls-Royce Advanced Blade Casting Facility (ABCF). The Advanced Blade Casting Facility is expected to produce its first blades in late 2014, with the facility capable of manufacturing 200,000 blades per year when fully operational. Each blade will be cast to form a single crystal of super alloy, making it extremely strong and able to resist the intense heat inside a jet engine. The 14,000 m2 facility will be one of the most advanced blade casting facilities in the world, featuring groundbreaking manufacturing techniques such as 3D structured light for geometry inspection.

An official groundbreaking ceremony took place to mark the start of construction on the ABCF in June 2012, with the Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable and Rolls-Royce's Colin Smith, Director of Engineering and Technology performing the honours with some of Rolls-Royce's apprentices.

The second proposed facility known as "Project PoWeR", is planned to manufacture and assemble large pressure vessels for the next generation of nuclear power stations. This include a 21,000 SqM (226,000 SqFt) factory building that would be around 33 metres at its highest area, and able to accommodate the production of vessels that will weigh 140 tonnes and stand 23 metres high. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2012, and it is anticipated that the first of the pressure vessels will be constructed in 2015.

Harworth Estates has also agreed contracts with Taylor Wimpey, Harron Homes and Barratt Homes to build new homes on their Waverley site marking the first phase of residential development

The house builders will acquire a total of 20 acres for an initial 254 homes and have all submitted their detailed design planning applications. It is anticipated that these will be determined in the first quarter of 2012 with the infrastructure and spine road access to the housing site expected to start in spring 2012. The first houses offered for sale is anticipated by the end of 2012.

This development will be part of the sustainable new community consisting of nearly 4000 new homes and community facilities such as schools, medical centres retail and leisure.

2010

The AMP became home to the new £25 million Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) led by the University of Sheffield with Rolls-Royce. The Nuclear AMRC is a joint initiative with industry, The University of Sheffield and The University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute. The consortium forms part of the Government’s Low Carbon Industrial Strategy and is at the forefront of enhancing manufacturing capability by assisting members to increase quality, reliability and efficiency and reducing costs and complexity. It is expected to draw together some 30 partner high-tech manufacturing suppliers who are committed to meeting UK demand and playing a significant part in global markets through the production of high-value, low-volume systems and components in a competitive manner. The building is due to be completed by the end of 2011.

2009

Construction completed on a 40,000 sq ft (3,700 m2). building adjacent to the existing Castings Technology International (Cti) headquarters building. The £4.7 million project increases Cti’s presence on the AMP to over 90,000 sq ft (8,400 m2). The new facility will house additional R&D equipment, production-scale ‘technology demonstrators' and a major investment in state-of-the-art equipment to finish, inspect and certify castings to the highest integrity standards required by industrial clients.

Dormer Tools located to the AMP as part of the Evolution @ the AMP development of light industrial units. New investments and opportunities at Dormer's Product Development Centre and Composite Competence Centre at the AMP will provide a strong foundation for future development activities of High Performance Drilling and Specialist Applications. The Research and Development Centre has the ability to provide greater understanding of drilling and its dynamics. The investments include the building of a state-of-the-art research and development laboratory, with the purchase of a number of DMG machines for testing of new product developments in metal and composite drilling.

2008

The Rolls-Royce "Factory of the Future with Boeing" was built as part of the University of Sheffield's Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC). The Factory is purpose built to house the latest manufacturing equipment and production capabilities. Information Communications Technology (ICT) and 'virtual' manufacturing will be key components of the new facility, as will alternative manufacturing methods, such as additive manufacturing processes which grow 3-dimensional parts; considerably reducing material waste and increasing design flexibility. Construction was completed by the end of 2007, and the facility officially opened in Summer 2008.

The AMRC also expanded outside of its traditional expertise in metallic-based materials, into the increasingly important area of composites. The AMRC Composite Centre is a research, design, manufacturing and technology transfer centre for composites developed for general manufacturing and aerospace applications. The increase in the importance of composites is shown by the fact that 50% (by volume) of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner will be constructed in composite materials.

The extension to the AMP Technology Centre was opened which includes a 56m three blade wind turbine, visible from the M1 motorway around Junction 33.

2006

Yorkshire Forward complete the construction of the main wing of the AMP Technology Centre, 27,000 sq ft (2,500 m2) of offices and workshops to cater for small high-growth companies in the Advanced Manufacturing and Materials sector.

2005

Castings Technology International construct a 50,000 sq ft (4,600 m2) building. This research and technology, member-based organisation has expertise in casting design, materials development and selection, specifications, manufacturing technologies, quality control, testing and performance. Cti have a global membership base.

TWI build a 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2) Yorkshire Technology Centre - R&D centre for Fibre Laser Processing, Friction Stir Welding, Laser Direct Metal Deposition, Cold Spraying. The building houses one of the largest friction stir welding machines in the world with over 130KW of spindle power. The machine has 12 programmable machine axes, a maximum down force of 15 tonnes and operates over an area of 6m x 3m.

2004

The University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing moved onto the AMP.