the "single supplier invited to submit a proposal for funding the new £45m institute, £38m of which will be provided by the government" - (EPSRC & Technology Strategy Board). In 2013, an additional £23 million of funding from the European Regional Development Fund brought the total investment to £61 million.

In August 2012, it was announced that the university's Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences had been chosen as the hub of a new BP International Centre for Advanced Materials,