A Bright Future
A Russell Group manifesto for the UK
Building a global Advanced Manufacturing hub in Sheffield
20 January 2025
The University of Sheffield transformed the former Orgreave coking plant – the site of violent clashes between pickets and police during the miners’ strike in 1984 - into a global hub for advanced manufacturing through the development of the University’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and its sister centres the Nuclear AMRC and the AMRC Training Centre
Since the AMRC opened in 2001, the clustering of High Value Manufacturing companies around these facilities has led to global companies such as Rolls-Royce, Boeing, and McLaren choosing to co-locate to be close to world leading research and innovation capability.
A recent economic impact report found that some of the biggest private sector investments into UK advanced manufacturing over the last 15 years would not have happened without the AMRC, and it has brought more than £260 million of private investment and more than 600 jobs to South Yorkshire.
The AMRC provided manufacturing innovation and technology support to more than 1,100 businesses each year between 2017/18 and 2019/20, and 42% of those were small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the facility plays a central role in supporting skills provision across the region.
Since an AMRC Training Centre opened in 2013, more than 1,700 apprentices have been trained, working with 400 manufacturing firms. Of those apprentices, 80% live in South Yorkshire, helping ensure local businesses have access to a pipeline of skilled workers.
