The new Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre (DARTeC) at Cranfield University, which opened earlier this year, has won two awards, presented by the LABC and the Institution of Structural Engineers.
The 2000sqm research facility provides a flexible research environment which is protected from, and yet accessible to, a live airport. The central building contains a suite of digital aviation research laboratories, surrounding a flexible workplace which brings together University researchers alongside private sector partners from across the aviation industry in a single collaborative environment.
The upper level is centred on a large adaptable space - the ‘passenger boarding lab’. This is a flexible open plan area which allows researchers and students to mingle in a boarding lounge environment where new digital technologies relevant to airport operations are tested, ranging from VR simulations to haptic and other sensory interfaces.
Outside the building is a fully covered ‘hangar laboratory’, which houses the University’s own Boeing 737-400 aircraft; a laboratory in its own right. To allow research involving high definition drone scanning of the aircraft fuselage, a canopy covers the whole plane creating a clear-span safety-netted enclosure of around 40m wide.
DARTeC has won the LABC (Local Authority Building Control) Building Excellence Award for “Best Non-residential New Build” in the Central region. The project has also been announced as a shortlisted finalist for the LABC National People and Place Awards, which will be presented in January 2022.
There was further recognition for the project at The Institution of Structural Engineers’ Midlands Awards, where it won the Infrastructure Building Award.