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The University of Nottingham has begun on construction of a £25 million research facility for bioenergy and biofuels, brewing technology and food and drink processing.

The Bioenergy Centre, the first of its kind in the country, is being funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), leading global brewer SABMiller and The University of Nottingham. It will house: one of the six Sustainable Bioenergy Centre research programmes funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC); a Centre for Brewing Technology and Innovation; and the Food and Biofuel Innovation Centre.

The centre which will cost £6.5m to build will provide nearly £20m of research expertise, laboratories and pilot facilities equipped with the very latest testing, demonstration and incubation facilities over an area of 3,100sqm. It will offer support, research and development and knowledge and technology transfer to small to medium-sized businesses in the East Midlands. The Sustainable Bioenergy and Brewing Science research teams from the University’s School of Biosciences will also be based there.

Professor David Greenaway, Vice-Chancellor of the University, said: “The University of Nottingham is pioneering research into new and sustainable sources of bioenergy. It has formed partnerships with global energy companies to local farmers, driving innovation through collaboration. This new Centre with its cutting edge facilities will enable the University to bring together many of the world’s leading experts in this field and help us tackle some of the major challenges of harnessing power from sustainable sources.”

The studies are part of the national £26m BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre — the biggest ever single UK public investment in bioenergy research.

The burial of a time capsule marked the start of construction and work should be complete March 2011.