Andy Burnham launches major Atom Valley scheme in Rochdale

A major project that will bring 20,000 jobs, employment space and new homes over a ‘decade of growth’ has finally started.

Spades were officially put in the ground for the new Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Centre (SMMC) at a ceremony led by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham today (November 12).

The research hub, just off the M62, is expected to become a catalyst for growth in advanced manufacturing, machinery, materials, and scientific research. 

Designed as part of a wider innovation ecosystem, the centre will play a key role in establishing Atom Valley as a world-class hub for advanced materials and manufacturing.

Speaking to a crowd at the ground breaking of the facility at Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale, Mr Burnham said: “This is a major milestone on our journey to be a world-leading city-region in every respect. I think in the future, we will remember being gathered here in the rain on a bleak looking day, hopeful of what today symbolises. 

“This is a huge statement about how Rochdale has changed. I arrived on this building site and I saw a bowl of rocket and guacamole, if that doesn’t tell you Rochdale is changing, nothing else will.

“We’ve had 10 years of devolution in Greater Manchester. In that time we’ve achieved something others thought we wouldn’t, we’ve become the fastest growing city-region in the country.

“We’ve not seen enough change in Rochdale, Oldham, Bury, Wigan and Leigh – that’s why this is significant. Because the next decade of growth in GM is going to be a decade of good growth, where we lift every person and every place.”

Mr Burnham pointed to the tram stop already in place at the site, hoping new workers here would mainly commute via public transport. But the Labour politician admitted rail and road congestion needed to be sorted locally to support the future of the Atom Valley scheme.

“You can’t be here and ignore the congestion on the M60 and M62,” Mr Burnham added. “The congestion is a drag on productivity and it’s too hard to get across the country in that part and around the city-region.

“The Simister Island (junction 18) investment is good, but going into the budget my message to the government is that you can’t take GM’s growth for granted. We’ve got growth but to keep ahead of that you have to put in the infrastructure to support further growth.

“We’re still waiting to hear about the big infrastructure to support our railways. I don’t think we can carry on with the M60 as it is, because it’s overly congested all the way around.

“We need a plan for road and rail to support the level of ambition that is Atom Valley.”

The SMMC will offer 30,000 sq ft of new laboratory space, workshops and design studios, as well as a lecture theatre, meeting rooms, office space, and flexible workspace for start-ups. 

Spreading across parts of Rochdale, Oldham, and Bury, Atom Valley is a key part of the North East Growth Corridor – one of Greater Manchester’s six Growth Locations. 

These are nationally significant, shovel-ready sites with land earmarked for delivery, and each building on each area’s strengths to spread the benefits of growth around the city-region’s 10 boroughs.

Coun Neil Emmott, council leader in Rochdale, said: “This is an area of the north west where we really suffered from the decline of industry and we’ve never really replaced that. It’s often been quite low-skilled and low paid jobs. It’s all been done piecemeal over the last few decades. 

“This is a genuine attempt to bring good manufacturing jobs to Rochdale. There always used to be good jobs for people to come into here, but that disappeared from the 1960s onwards. 

“Our prosperity in the past was built on the textile industry, but that was only the driver of it. Because you had the other industries connected to it like engineering, like shuttlemaking that supported that textile industry.

“We need to seriously readdress that and bring in decent, skilled manufacturing back to Rochdale.”