College of Technology and Environment
This section of the department covers the manufacturing, production and prototyping facilities located in the Borough Road part of the campus. These facilities cover traditional and advanced subtractive manufacturing techniques, soft modelling , prototyping and fabrication as well as additive manufacturing and casting processes.
The electronic and electrical engineering facilities located predominantly in the tower block cover traditional electronics, mechatronics, robotics, instrumentation and control, telecommunications and networks and Electrical power and rotating machines.
There has been recent growth in this area with the introduction of the Virtual Engineering Suite (Advanced Additive manufacturing and an Immersive VR facility)in the Tower Block and the introduction of new CNC machining facilities for metal machining, plasma cutting, laser cutting and routing of non metallic materials in Borough Road.
The University is currently developing an Advanced Vehicle Research centre - a bespoke facility for automotive applications and engine testing in the Extension Block.
The above facilities provide support mainly to the Schools of Engineering, Built Environment and Architecture, however this is widening out to other areas of the University as new courses are developed.
Chemical and Petroleum Engineering – A dedicated laboratory space that incorporates a wide range of industry specific apparatus for students to mimic the processes undertaken by engineers in related fields, alongside this are a number of bespoke pieces of equipment and for them to get hands on experience of experimentation, analysis and modification of industrial processes.
The Building Services, Environmental, Acoustics and Civil Engineering labs are located in the Faraday Wing and Extension Block of the Campus whilst the DARLAB is located in Borough Road. The facilities in the Faraday Wing and extension block cover destructive/non-destructive strength of materials testing for mechanical engineering, construction, civil engineering and related disciplines. These facilities also cater for mechanics of machines testing, fluids and thermodynamics and dedicated facilities for acoustics and environmental analysis. These areas broad support Courses in the Built environment and Architecture however there is significant overlap with the Courses in the School of Engineering and to a much lesser extent the School of Applied Sciences. There has been recent growth in this area with the implementation of the DARLAB (Digital Architecture Research Laboratory) a dedicated manufacturing facility exploiting the use of multi-axis robotics and range of additive/subtractive technologies to create architectural forms not restricted by traditional building methods.