The high technology of optical related research and production from local industry and academics from Bangor University resulted in the need for this flagship building to promote the Optronics Industry in North Wales. The business support unit contains associated services to support the building and users, including conference facilities, café, exhibition space and a combined reception. The 20 incubator units can act as office, research or production space depending on the users requirements. The technology centre houses clean rooms to class 100 and production areas to class 10,000. The centre is serviced overhead from dedicated plant rooms covering the whole building. The plant area and technology centre are planned on a 1500mm grid mirrored on both floors to facilitate flexible servicing and planning of the space to accommodate changes and advancement of technology
in this field.

The client brief called for a building capable of considerable flexibility and utilising ‘Green’ technology to achieve a BREEAM ‘excellent’ rating as a minimum. The final proposals included rainwater harvesting, passive ventilation in non-clean room spaces (including units and technology centre) and extensive use of photovoltaic walls to generate energy, which was the largest Copper Indium Discelendine (CIS) photovoltaic array in the world in 2004 comprising 1,000m² of panels. Sustainable materials were specified where practical, adopting a contemporary architectural style to achieve a
local identity of materials and texture.