engineering

Sir Michael Uren Hub

Sir Michael Uren Hub is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sir Michael Uren Hub rather than just read about it. In short: The Sir Michael Uren Hub is a 13-storey building on the north side of the elevated A40 Westway in London, designed by Allies and Morrison for the purpose of Imperial College's translational interdisciplinary and convergence science biomedical engineering research. It contains a 160-seat auditorium, social space, cleanrooms, and a whole host of unique experimental facilities.

Key takeaways

Sir Michael Uren Hub belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sir Michael Uren Hub to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sir Michael Uren Hub from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Sir Michael Uren Hub is a 13-storey building on the north side of the elevated A40 Westway in London, designed by Allies and Morrison for the purpose of Imperial College's translational interdisciplinary and convergence science biomedical engineering research. It contains a 160-seat auditorium, social space, cleanrooms, and a whole host of unique experimental facilities. It is named for engineer Sir Michael Uren and built using his engineered cement substitute, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS). It houses the Musculoskeletal Lab (MSk lab), the Musculoskeletal Medical Engineering Centre, Neurorehabilition and Neuroscience translational research, Imperial's Environmental Research Group, Cardiovascular research, and the Dementia Research Institute Centres.

Location The Sir Michael Uren Hub is situated on Wood Lane, Shepherd's Bush, London. To its north is a 34-storey tower, to its east is an incubator building, and to its south is an elevated section of the A40 Westway.

History In 2014 Imperial College London announced that it was to build a biomedical engineering centre supported by a £40 million donation from Sir Micheal Uren and his foundation, at Imperial West, the College's 25-acre research and innovation campus in White City, west London. The purpose was to house Imperial's biomedical and healthcare researchers, engineers, scientists and clinicians, along with spin-out companies, in one building. Work on the site began in January 2017. It officially opened in December 2020.

Design The 13-storey Hub was designed by architects Allies and Morrison, and the project was managed by Turner & Townsend, with mechanical and engineering consultants Buro Happold. Autodesk Revit provided the CAD software, and the building was inspected by Bureau Veritas. ISG Ltd was the contractor.

Structural features The building has a triangular base and covers 18,150 square metres. It has two long sides, covered in 1,300 GGBS containing four metre high vertical precast concrete fins, of which there are nine types. GGBS, a waste by-product of coal-fired power stations, was developed by Uren's company as a substitute for cement which produces a fraction of the carbon emissions. The fins act to shade from the sun. It contains a 160-seat auditorium, social space, cleanrooms, and a co-location space for research in medical technologies for patient benefit. It houses a large suite of core experimental facilities for use by the researchers and industrial partners, the Musculoskeletal Medical Engineering Centre, Neurorehabilitation and Neuroscience Research, two Dementia Research Institute Centres, the School of Public Health's Environmental Research Group led by Frank Kelly, the MSk Lab led by Justin Cobb and Alison McGregor, the Centre for Cardiovascular Bioengineering, and 20 companies. Members of the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) occupy space on the ninth floor. It has space for functions and exhibitions in the main entrance, adjacent to the ground floor licensed facility. The auditorium and its foyer on the lower ground floor can be accessed via the main entrance and the research floors above can be accessed via secure entry. There are toilets on all floors.

Gallery

References

External links

Sir Michael Uren Hub opening (2020) on YouTube

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sir Michael Uren Hub

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sir Michael Uren Hub claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sir Michael Uren Hub before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sir Michael Uren Hub ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sir Michael Uren Hub

In research: Sir Michael Uren Hub appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sir Michael Uren Hub in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sir Michael Uren Hub is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2020 establishments in England, Engineering research institutes, High-tech architecture, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sir Michael Uren Hub outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Sir Michael Uren Hub” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Sir Michael Uren Hub in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sir Michael Uren Hub means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Sir Michael Uren Hub out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sir Michael Uren Hub in simple terms?

Why does Sir Michael Uren Hub matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sir Michael Uren Hub?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sir Michael Uren Hub.