Construction is well underway on the new expanded home for the AMRC Composite Centre.

The complete steel framework is now in place for the 1,800 sq m extension to the AMRC Factory of the Future, with completion due in April 2012.

The new facility will allow the AMRC Composite Centre to provide a full range of design, manufacturing, assembly and structural testing services for advanced composite materials. The Centre will also work with complex hybrid components and systems, which require manufacturing expertise in both composite and metallic structures.

The new Composite Centre includes a general workshop and a controlled environment with high-spec clean rooms. It will house a range of state-of-the-art design, development and processing equipment, including a filament winding machine, automated tape/tow placement robot, 5-axis machining centres, and selection of autoclaves and ovens.

The Composite Centre is currently based in the original AMRC building, on a neighbouring plot at the Advanced Manufacturing Park, South Yorkshire.

In other developments, staff at our sister centre, the Nuclear AMRC, are now preparing to move into their new building alongside the Factory of the Future. The new Knowledge Transfer Centre is also developing rapidly, with the final layers of cladding being applied.