Fire-hit Christie hospital cancer research unit to move to new home in Cheshire

Smoke from the fire could be seen for miles across Manchester

A cancer research centre that was severely damaged in a fire is to move to a new temporary home in Cheshire.

Work at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute attached to The Christie cancer hospital was halted by a large blaze in April.

The unit's research is to resume at the Alderley Park bioscience campus 15 miles away near Macclesfield.

The institute's director, Prof Richard Marais said returning to the original site "remains our priority".

The unit will move to the Mereside campus at Alderley Park

But he said he is "grateful" to Alderley Park which offered a temporary home "within days of the incident".

"We are delighted" and this "gives us a period of certainty and everything we need on one site in terms of our scientific facilities", he added.

The fire at the Paterson Building in Wilmslow Road, Manchester, caused significant damage and the loss of valuable equipment and research, the institute said.

The institute is funded by Cancer Research UK, which spends about £22m a year on research in Manchester.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is continuing.

The fire tore through the first floor plant room and roof space of the Paterson Building