MechSpace

MechSpace is a dedicated, well-equipped facility for students of UCL Mechanical Engineering to develop practical engineering skills and pursue extracurricular projects.

MechSpace is the department’s student hub located in London King’s Cross, a short walk from the main UCL Bloomsbury Campus. This is a dedicated space for students of UCL Mechanical Engineering, spanning six levels and around 12,000 square feet of workshops and study spaces. Here, our students meet, discuss, design and build prototypes for both assessed and extracurricular projects, with the help of our experienced team of dedicated technicians.

This is a space where our students can unleash their engineering creativity, and passion for making, to the fullest.

All materials and equipment are supplied fully by the department, not costing our students a penny, making this space an impressive benefit to all our students.

Example Equipment and Capabilities

CNC machines to turn, mill and rout in a variety of materials including wood, plastic and metal in both 2D and 3D
Laser cutters to cut wood and plastic in 2D
3D printers to rapidly prototype design concepts
Facilities to recycle and reform scrap material
Manual cutting and shaping tools for wood, plastic, and metal in 2D and 3D
Electronics assembly and testing
Precision 3D measurement equipment
Computational modelling and high-performance computing facilities including Virtual Reality

a young man working on complex machinery with many levers

Photo of students using the virtual reality suite at MechSpace

Example Projects

Formula Student engine building
Unmanned autonomous vehicle (drones) construction
Carbon fibre chassis design for Formula Student and Mars Rover vehicles
Hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles
Climbing robots
High-speed vehicle aerodynamics and hydrodynamics

a big group of Formula Students at their competition

Home of UCL Racing

MechSpace is also home to UCL Racing (UCLR); where students are able to join one of our extracurricular project teams to practice and learn new technical and engineering project management skills. UCLR teams use our expansive MechSpace facility as a base to build their devices and vehicles, ranging from a Formula Student racing car all the way to a human-powered submarine. The current UCLR teams are:

Eco-Marathon team
Formula Student team
Mars Rover team
UAS team
Rocket team
Human-Powered Submarine team

Photo of all UCLR leaders outside MechSpace

Outreach at MechSpace

Along with its primary role as a teaching lab for UCL Mechanical Engineering students, MechSpace is also a regular host of outreach events. These include:

UCL Repair Cafe
MechEng Summer School (Insight into University)
MechEng Work Experience (open to year 10-12 students)
Industrial Cadet Workshops (with EDT)
STEM engagement activities with STEM Racing UK
Taster session for schools

For more information on our engagement and outreach activities, visit our Engage page.

MechSpace girls on track group photo — UCL Mechanical Engineering hosting a ‘Girls on Track’ event for primary school students at MechSpace

UCL Repair Cafe

Watch: A glimpse inside MechSpace

Learn more about UCL Racing

Find out more about each of our six UCLR teams, including each team’s core goals and photos of their devices, vehicles and prototypes – all created at MechSpace!

Discover more about UCL Racing