Environmental Chamber

the chamber

UWS’s environmental chamber is one of only two in Scotland and the only one in the West of Scotland. It replicates environmental extremes, from walking in the desert to standing on one of the world’s highest mountains and can be used by athletes to improve physical performance in the run up to large sporting events.

The chamber, located inside our £110 million state-of-the-art Lanarkshire Campus, is an important asset for the University, enhancing students’ experiences and enabling UWS to forge research partnerships and collaborations within industry and academia. Businesses and the public are able to access the chamber and take part in a range of training sessions.

multi-purpose

The chamber controls a number of variables to create extreme conditions, with temperature ranging from 10 to 40 degrees Celsius, altitude from zero to 6,000 metres above sea level, and humidity between 10 to 90 per cent. The design of the chamber was informed by Professor Chris Easton, exercise physiologist and Head of the Division of Sport and Exercise in the School of Health and Life Sciences at UWS.

top level athletes

Since opening, the chamber has been used by Callum Hawkins prior to the Doha World Athletics Championship; the Scotland Men’s Rugby Seven Team; Gordon Reid (Multi paralympic medal winner in wheel chair tennis) before the Tokyo Paralympics; Scott Meenagh (para Nordic skier) before the 2022 Winter Olympics; the Scotland Women's Football Team; and Heart of Midlothian Football Club.

If you would like to speak to us about using our environmental chamber contact sparc-exphys@uws.ac.uk