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Our students and researchers have access to a range of exceptional research facilities and research equipment.
Laboratory facilities
Our staff and students have access to a wide range of equipment housed in new facilities on the former Olympic park, Here East, Stratford.
- Materials thermal chamber
Materials thermal chamber - with control over temperature, humidity and ventilation rates, with the capacity to simulate driving rain. This allows high-level testing of building materials and components, supporting the work of the UK Centre for Moisture in Buildings
- Human thermal chamber
Human thermal chamber - chambers precise control of temperature, humidity, ventilation rates and carbon dioxide levels for studies into occupant comfort and cognitive performance.
- Audio lab
Audio lab - an acoustically treated listening room with variable reverberation time, equipped with a speaker array and a VR HMD for immersive AV simulations.
- Air quality testing
Air quality testing - facilities including a GCMS for testing field samples and two small emissions chambers, for laboratory investigations of materials, pollutions and air quality, including qualitative and quantitative assessments of indoor air quality in relation to organic pollutants (VVOCs, VOCs, SVOCs).
- Sky lab
Sky lab - an artificial sky consisting of a five-metre dome with 810 individually adjustable light sources – simulating daylight distribution – and a moving sun simulator.
Field Equipment
To facilitate world-leading research in the built environment, we have over 1,000 individual items of equipment to capture data and improve our understanding of building performance. Ranging from small deployable data loggers to dedicated test equipment, these facilitate investigations into all aspects of the internal and external environment, including:
- thermal comfort (PMV, PPD)
- indoor/outdoor air quality (CO2, particulates, nitrogen dioxide, total volatile organic compounds etc.)
- lighting (illuminance, luminance, spectrometers)
- acoustics (sound levels, reverberation, sound insulation, etc.).
- energy monitoring
- weather stations
- occupant behaviour (occupancy, people counting, window opening etc.)
- thermal cameras
- moisture and humidity
- blower door kits and smoke guns
- ventilation performance (air flow hoods, anemometers)
Teaching and research equipment
Equipment is available for teaching demonstrations, practical assessments, dissertation projects and for students to loan out and use independently. All research equipment may be used for these purposes, with a dedicated range available for students to take to site or field trips. This includes environmental meters, probes, data loggers and mini thermal cameras.