A contractor has signed on to deliver a major project at the Harwell Science, Technology & Innovation Campus.
Mace will deliver the Extreme Photonics Applications Centre on the Oxfordshire site with a £81m investment through the R&D-focused Strategic Priorities Fund.
The EPAC development is a new purpose-designed building that will house a unique, state-of-the-art high power and high repetition laser system.
The appointment follows Mace's recent successful work on two other research projects for the STFC on the Harwell campus, including the National Satellite Test Facility and the Rosalind Franklin Institute.
The centre will help researchers and industry better understand the composition of new materials and how they behave in different conditions. It is a highly strategic, disruptive technology and directly supports the UK Government's Industrial Strategy.
Mace will work with the STFC, designers, a global concrete specialist and our supply chain partners to deliver the whole project, including the experimental areas of the building where high intensity lasers will be tested.
Professor John Collier, Director of the UK's Central Laser Facility, said: "As our construction partner in the EPAC project Mace will be contributing, alongside the work of the team of the scientists and engineers at STFC's Central Laser Facility and our colleagues in academia, to a project that will enable the UK to realise the potential offered by laser driven radiation sources to be genuinely disruptive and that will soon bring together the wider science community in a diverse programme of fundamental and applied research."
Terry Spraggett, Managing Director for Public Sector Construction at Mace, added: "We are delighted to be appointed to deliver EPAC, marking another step forward in our relationship with the STFC. The Extreme Photonics Application Centre is a technically complex and challenging project, and we will use our experience in delivering cutting edge research facilities to realise the client's vision."
(CM/MH)
Construction News
14/02/2020
£81m Project Moves Forward At Harwell Campus Oxford


18/07/2025
Clowes Developments, in partnership with Roe Developments, has officially begun enabling works for the next phase of Stud Brook Business Park in Castle Donington.
The latest expansion will deliver five new trade counter, warehouse, and industrial units, ranging in size from 3,229 sq ft to 4,606 sq

18/07/2025
The Bracknell Forest Cambium Partnership between Countryside Partnerships (part of the Vistry Group) and Bracknell Forest Council has celebrated a major milestone in the transformation of Bracknell town centre, as its 169-home Market Street regeneration scheme reaches its highest point.
A topping o

18/07/2025
Construction has officially begun on Reading's newest performance venue, as work starts on the new Studio Theatre being built alongside The Hexagon.
The first phase of the project, led by Feltham Construction Ltd, includes the demolition of the existing backstage area, dock, and stage door on Queen

18/07/2025
A disused shop unit in Spennymoor has been given a new lease of life, thanks to a regeneration project that has turned the space into a green community garden in the heart of the County Durham town.
The former retail premises at 55–63 Festival Walk, which had remained vacant despite efforts to attr

18/07/2025
Wates Residential business has awarded £45,000 in funding to seven grassroots organisations in Brent through its newly launched Community Chest initiative.
The programme is designed to support small, community-led projects that address pressing local needs such as social isolation, youth services,

18/07/2025
Network Rail (Wales and Borders) has commenced a major programme of engineering works across key rail routes in South Wales, aimed at maintaining and improving the safety and reliability of the region's railway network.
Running from Saturday 2 August to Monday 11 August, the works will focus on tra

18/07/2025
A significant milestone has been reached in the drive to deliver high-quality, affordable, and sustainable housing across York and North Yorkshire with the launch of a new Affordable Homes Standard.
Led by the York and North Yorkshire Housing Partnership, the Standard marks a united commitment from

18/07/2025
Mace has been appointed to Transport for Greater Manchester's (TfGM) next-generation Transport and Professional Services (TPS2025) Framework, earning a place on the Project Cost and Commercial Management Lot.
The appointment extends Mace's successful partnership with TfGM and the Greater Manchester

17/07/2025
Pennyfarthing Homes has received detailed planning approval for the first 74 homes at Sandle Park, a new residential development forming part of the wider Forde Valley neighbourhood, located just a mile northwest of Fordingbridge town centre.
The approval, granted by New Forest District Council's P

17/07/2025
Bouygues UK has officially handed over the first phase of the Cotswolds Designer Outlet in Tewkesbury to regional developer and investor Robert Hitchins Ltd, with the new retail destination opening its doors to the public for the first time.
As lead contractor, Bouygues UK delivered 136,000 sq ft o