Leitrim-based non-profit Future Cast has opened a €3.25m Innovation, Research, Development and Education Centre in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, transforming a derelict 200-year-old church into a 10,000 sq ft hub for construction, manufacturing and quarrying innovation, as reported by Business Plus.

The facility is expected to create 15 new roles across concrete and material science, machine design, prototype development and specialist training. It features a geological material science laboratory, prototype-building and machine-development spaces, green skills training facilities and a 3D concrete printer.

The project was supported by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment under the Border Enterprise Development Fund, administered by Enterprise Ireland.

Planned skills training programmes are expected to include 3D concrete printing and the maintenance of offshore wind energy infrastructure, positioning the centre as a delivery point for emerging green and digital construction skills.

JJ O'Hara, CEO of Future Cast, said the centre is designed to bring practical innovation and R&D capacity into rural Ireland. "We are creating a place where companies, entrepreneurs, researchers and young people can come together to test ideas, build prototypes, develop new technologies and gain the skills needed for the future of work," he said. "The centre demonstrates how regional hubs can become valuable national resources for industry-led innovation, green skills and practical R&D."

Future Cast is a European Digital Innovation Hub supporting more than 220 member and partner companies across Ireland. It currently employs 22 people across facilities in Manorhamilton and Ballaghaderreen, Co Roscommon, and plays a leading role in 14 European projects through Erasmus+, Interreg and Horizon Europe.

The Manorhamilton opening follows the launch of Future Cast's €1m Mechanical and Electrical Training and Assessment Centre in Ballaghaderreen in June 2025, featuring 16-person classrooms and dedicated workshop spaces for up to ten students.

Together, the projects represent more than €5m of investment in enterprise and skills infrastructure across the construction, quarrying, manufacturing and industrial sectors in recent years.

Explore the full article of Future Cast's new innovation centre and its training programmes in the original report.