Rise of the super lab

To stop the decline in the number of students studying science, London Met thinks that to make science an attractive study option, you need to make the study environment attractive in the first place. Gone are the days of dusty labs and Bunsen’s past their best - all hail the rise of the super lab

LONDON Metropolitan University is the largest single University in London. It has over 34,000 students, more than 3,000 academic and non-academic staff and more international students than almost any other UK University. Its ambition is to be the first choice for biomedical sciences, pharmaceutical science, sport and exercise science and human nutrition.

In order to achieve its objectives, London Metropolitan University needed to offer state-of-the-art and unrivalled teaching facilities for science students. It invested £30 million in a new Science Centre on its North Campus to create a unique facility, which achieves a host of firsts. The centre is home to the first open plan super lab in the world that offers the whole range of science to be carried out simultaneously at 280 laboratory benches. It is the first educational lab to use advanced AV technology as a central part of learning and teaching, it represents the largest ever single UK investment in university science education and it is one of only two university laboratory buildings to achieve BREEAM excellent.

“It is hoped that the new centre will herald a change in science teaching and attract students to ameliorate the 35% decline over the last five years.”

London Metropolitan University’s new four-storey science building was the result of an international design competition to ensure the university benefited from the most innovative design. The new building provides undergraduate and research facilities for general sciences and sports science. Alongside the super lab, it comprises an international quality basketball court set within a multi-purpose gymnasium, and the second floor provides CL3, specialist research and development laboratories for tissue culture research, microbiology, virus, including research into the AIDs virus, and funghi research as well as a nuclear-magnetic resonance room. It also houses facilities that are open to the community including a mother and baby clinic and fitness centre.

The 8,000m2 super lab, with its 280 individual workstations and 12 teaching stations, is fully adaptable and houses the most advanced interactive teaching equipment in Europe. It is a CL2 lab, contains 1,000 data-points and cost £600,000.

Using hi-tech audio-visual equipment, 12 different teaching sessions, from undergraduate to PhD level, can take place simultaneously. Cameras at each teaching station relay live and pre-recorded sessions to screens and headphones at each workstation, which is equipped with its own interactive computer, a flat screen and audiovisual equipment. This technology enables students to be taught at the same time but it also enables them to progress at their own pace and revisit teaching sessions if they need to. Students can also access the internet to undertake research rather than having to move to a computer room located elsewhere.

The advanced level of technology also enables academics to sit at hubs checking students' work or move around the huge space, tuned in to the students via headsets. Tutors can digitally record science experiments undertaken by their classes and store them on a central database, which can then be made available to absent students and to future students via online streaming. Alternatively, they can transmit lectures anywhere in the world making the laboratory a global hub for science.

The teaching experience was a key consideration in the design of the super lab.  Benches include a totem serviced from below to provide the flexibility to supply water, electricity, data and gases on demand, and maintain clear sight lines across the lab. The university wanted a transparent environment where students feel entirely comfortable engaging in individual and group study and, importantly, seeking help when needed. This transparency is reflected in the architecture and in the open plan nature of the interior.

A full, 32x32m clear span gymnasium forms the nucleus of the sports science department and enables the study of physical and psychological affects on athletes before, during and after physical exercise. 

Sports science facilities include a sports clinic, rehabilitation and physiotherapy rooms, phlebotomy labs, treatment rooms, a cybex room (where muscle power can be measured), a body pod (which measures body fat) and a motor room (where movement can be observed). The sports hall, which is sized for national basketball, can also be laid out for netball, five-a-side football, badminton and tennis and includes retractable seating. The fitness centre adjacent to the gym is open to the public.

Sustainability was a key consideration in the design of the Science Centre and it achieves an environmental BREEAM assessment rating of excellent. BREEAM refers to the Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment method, which evaluates and grades the environmental performance of buildings.

Achieving excellent was the result of a number of design techniques and initiatives:
• The building is future-proof. It is designed to incorporate renewable energy, easily adapting to the integration of fuel cells, photovoltaics or wind turbines.
• Water saving measures have been optimised through waterless urinals and efficient shower fittings.
• The mechanical and electrical plant is highly efficient. This includes ultra efficient fume cupboards.
• All lights incorporate sensors and timers so they are only on when absolutely necessary.
• Maximum day light distribution reduces the need for electrical lights.
• The external walls are highly insulated.
• The building has been developed on a brownfield site.
• Excellent transport links support a green travel plan.
• Health and wellbeing is promoted within the community through the provision of facilities that are open to the public.

As a result of all of these qualities, the science centre has been submitted for a Civic Trust Award.

At the end of 2006, London Met carried out research into what teenagers think of science and found that 71% of 15- to 18-year-olds have a positive view of it. It is factors such as the way science is taught, the teaching facilities and their view of science as a career that affects whether they choose to study it. 
There is currently a lack of investment in university science teaching, which may well explain the problem. It took five years to organise the funding (£10 million for HEFCE), the planning and the design for the Science Centre and two years to construct the Science Centre. Now open and being enjoyed by students, it is hoped that the new centre will herald a change in science teaching and attract students to ameliorate the 35% decline over the last five years.
This new £30 million facility and innovative Super Lab, equipped with its modern, interactive, energy-saving lighting, underlines the University's commitment to delivering the highest standard of science education and to supporting British industry with first class science graduates. The quality of its facilities is such that the physical monitoring of athletes for the Olympic Games will be undertaken at the centre.

By Nigel Craddock, project director at Pascall+Watson architects, was the project leader for the London Metropolitan University Superlab Project from conception to completion.