Our facilities are among the best in the country and they’re available to help organisations meet their needs – whether for events, research or product testing.
And they come equipped with some of the country’s brightest minds to help you get the best out of what you’re trying to achieve.
To find out more about how our facilities can benefit your business or research, get in touch with the Energy Hub team
Energy House
It’s a typical Salford 1919 terraced house that has been reconstructed in a fully environmentally controllable chamber, in which climatic conditions can be maintained, varied, repeated and patterns monitored.
Unlike test houses built outdoors, conditions in the Energy House can be replicated time and time again whatever the weather is like outdoors. There’s also no need for users to wait until the weather conditions meet their requirements as rain, snow, wind and temperature can be specified to high levels of accuracy at the flick of a switch.
The building currently installed represents 21% of UK housing stock and was rebuilt using the traditional methods of the time, including lime mortar, and lathe and plaster ceilings. The house is classed as a hard to treat property in terms of energy efficiency due to the lack of cavity walls.
Salford Energy House provides a unique testing and development facility in which leading researchers can work collaboratively with industry to develop and test new technology and solutions to improve the energy efficiency of existing projects and processes. Find out more about the Energy House»
Wind Tunnels
There are available a wide variety of wind tunnels ranging from subsonic to supersonic. They can be adapted easily depending on the type of test to be carried out.
Full size items can be tested such as roofing materials, vents and wind turbines.
Additionally, tests are carried out on scale models for items such as wing sections and motor cars. Scale models of buildings built to architects’ designs can be used to assess wind loading, wind-induced structural vibration, the wind environment around buildings, and pollution dispersion.
Visit the dedicated wind tunnel facilities website for more technical information.
Joule House
Joule House, located on the Crescent, is where 19th Century physicist James Joule conducted his famous experiments into energy and heat – which led to the ‘joule’ unit of energy being named after him.
The building is currently used for business support activity such as CPD training, serving regional businesses from the fast growing Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services (LSGES) sector within the region.
Members of the public are be able to catch a glimpse inside the historic building and learn about the work of the famous physicist. An educational ‘outreach room’ has been opened displaying original scientific apparatus used by Joule to inform people about the important experiments conducted at the site.
The refurbishment of Joule House is part-funded via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The University has secured an additional £580,000 worth of funding, taking the total amount of ERDF received to over £1.5m.
