Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry visited the TWI Technology Centre North East in Middlesbrough earlier this month to unveil a project to build a Centre for Materials Integrity on Tees Advanced Manufacturing Park.

He was joined by Tat-Hean Gan, TWI’s director of innovation and skills, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen and Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston.

The new research facility will build on TWI’s (www.twi-global.com) existing expertise to provide specialist knowledge, equipment and laboratory space and help regional SMEs and other companies to develop, validate and commercialise new inspection technologies and apply advanced inspection techniques to new applications.

The facility will focus on the safe use and inspection of materials for industrial applications, and it will offer materials testing and research to underpin this work, while also developing new technologies to create a sustainable regional research resource.

The project is receiving just over £4 million of funding from the European Regional Development Fund, along with £500,000 from the Tees Valley Combined Authority’s Local Growth Fund.

The rest of the funding will come from the private sector.

Professor Gan said: “The research and innovation that we are able to carry out here is already world-leading, and that is down to the knowledge and highly skilled workforce available to us.

“The investment in our new facility will allow us to expand further, creating more high-value research-led jobs.”