About the National Composites Centre
‘To be an independent, open-access national centre that delivers world-class innovation in the design and rapid manufacture of composites and facilitates their widespread industrial exploitation.’
Context
In November 2009 the Government launched the UK Composites Strategy. This highlights the importance of composites to the future of UK manufacturing and the Government’s plans for ensuring that the UK has the means to succeed in intensely competitive global markets.
A key part of this strategy is the establishment of the National Composites Centre (NCC), which will bring together dynamic companies and enterprising academics to develop new technologies for the design and rapid manufacture of high-quality composite products. The combination of academic and business strengths will speed progress from laboratory to design to factory and into products.
The Facility
The 8500m2 state-of-the-art NCC building opens in summer 2011 at SPark, the Bristol and Bath Science Park. The Bristol city-region is already at the forefront of composites development, both as a research hub and as a manufacturing base, and the NCC will capitalise and build on this.
NCC activities will get under way before then at centres of excellence around the UK, including regional composites centres and the University of Bristol’s Advanced Composites Centre for Innovation and Science (ACCIS).
NCC Activities
The NCC will:
- Provide manufacturing facilities at an industrial scale and rapid manufacturing processes capable of building prototypes to validate design concepts
- Be the hub of the UK’s effort to develop and implement rapid composite manufacturing technologies and systems.
- Lead the co-ordination of a strengthened network of regional centres of composites excellence
- Provide direction and focus for fundamental research and collaborative links with UK universities
- Help to develop and co-ordinate training to support the skills base necessary for applying advanced and specialist composite technologies
