The world’s first facility to study how we interact with our environment, helping us ensure a greater quality of life

UCL Pearl

How do you create a world inside a building? This was the problem University College London (UCL) faced when scoping out their new research facility, the Person Environment Activity Research Laboratory (PEARL).

To help make their vision a reality, UCL appointed our team to provide the mechanical and electrical engineering necessary to create an immersive laboratory to monitor what people see, touch, hear, smell, or feel in real world scenarios. Described as one of London’s most remarkable new buildings, the 4,000 square metre, 10-metre-high mega lab offers full-size simulations and facilitates research into access and mobility, from navigating curbs in wheelchairs to improving train design and maximising space inside aircraft. We took inspiration from national theatres to deliver the flexibility to change from one scene to another in the shortest possible time. The systems provide specific visual, aural, and olfactory experiences to create a realistic experience. Lighting systems are adjustable so that light levels from anywhere on earth, at any time of the day or night, can be simulated.

PEARL was designed to meet the low energy and carbon emissions targets set by UCL. We modelled the mechanical and engineering systems as well as the building performance to test and predict future energy use. This, combined with efficient building fabric and services, makes PEARL UCL’s first carbon net zero building.