Glasgow research centre will extend life of industrial equipment

A NEW £5.5m (US$7m) research centre in Scotland will focus on how industrial equipment can be reused or remade in an effort to reduce emissions, boost UK manufacturing, and reshore supply chains.

The state-funded ReMake Value Retention Centre (RVRC) will be located within the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) near Glasgow, which is operated by the University of Strathclyde.

The centre will focus on helping to reduce emissions from the extraction and processing of raw materials, by extending the life of infrastructure and products.

It will work with industry, business and the public sector on how industrial equipment, infrastructure from energy systems, and aircraft components can be reused or remade rather than sending them to landfill. 

Stephen Fitzpatrick, director of the Digital Factory at NMIS, said:  “Focusing solely on the energy transition won’t achieve net-zero since a large portion of global emissions comes from extracting and processing manufacturing materials. To mitigate the projected 500m t of material demand that we will need to dig out of the Earth over the next decade, we must embrace a circular economy, reusing materials and remaking existing products.”

Manufactured products account for 45% of global CO2 emissions, though only 7% are currently recycled and just 2% are refurbished for reuse, says state funding body UKRI.

Jim McDonald, Principal & Vice-Chancellor of the University Strathclyde, said: "By pioneering reuse, repair, and remanufacture in sectors essential to our national infrastructure, we are not only addressing urgent environmental challenges but also securing economic resilience for the future.”

Partners in the centre include the universities of Exeter and Sheffield.