With an investment of £3 million, once completed the facility is set to be the largest consumer product testing laboratory in the UK.

SATRA will offer its full range of testing facilities at the new laboratory including its recently introduced resistance to water, slip and abrasion tests for finished shoes.

The organisation’s current footwear testing facility, based at its Rockingham Road site, will close when the new laboratory is completed, ending 60 years of footwear testing at the location.

Chief executive Dr Ron Whittaker said that, despite the moves to global resourcing, the demand for SATRA’s testing services for footwear and leather are higher than ever, increasing by more than 10% in 2005. "It has only been 12 years since our last footwear test laboratory was commissioned, but such has been the pace of development, expansion and improvement in footwear testing over that period that a completely new facility is now required,” commented Mr Whittaker.