Roehampton Vale
Roehampton Vale campus is home to our aerospace engineering, automotive engineering and mechanical engineering students. Here’s everything you need to know about the campus and its facilities.

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Welcome to Roehampton Vale campus
Roehampton Vale is completely dedicated to the study of engineering, with equipment including wind tunnels and a range of vehicles.
Our Roehampton Vale campus just a short bus ride from Kingston town centre and within walking distance of Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common.
Our labs include a composite material fabrication lab and have facilities including materials testing equipment, rapid prototyping machinery and computer-aided simulation technologies. We also have the latest CFD, CAM and CAD software, plus an embedded system laboratory with National Instruments equipment. The learning resources centre includes engineering-specific resources and databases, as well as a cafe.
Roehampton Vale facilities
The refurbished Sir Sydney Camm Centre, located at the Roehampton Vale campus, serves as the library for mechanical and aeronautical engineering students. It offers 36 high-spec computers with access to specialist software, group and silent study areas, and a learning cafe for snacks and drinks.
The library features images of famous aircraft built by Hawker Aviation, highlighting Kingston's aviation heritage. The help desk provides support for all students, including those with disabilities, with access to specialist software and equipment in the Access Technology Room.
The auto lab offers a variety of vehicles, including a Lotus Exige and a Daytona motorbike, along with specialist laboratory support from experienced staff. The modern automotive engineering lab provides high-tech resources for Kingston's automotive, motorsport, and motorcycle courses.
Equipment includes modern vehicles, a rolling road, engine test cells, and a suspension dynamometer. Students also build and modify a Sylva Striker kit car, which is raced in the 750 Motor Club’s kit car formula at Brands Hatch and Silverstone.
The £4 million Hawker Wing at Roehampton Vale offers three floors of additional space for students and staff. Named after Australian aviator Harry Hawker, a test pilot for the Kingston-based Sopwith Aviation Company, the building opened in December 2007. It features teaching rooms, offices, and bright, spacious areas, making it an ideal study environment for engineering students.
Roehampton Vale is home to a full-size wind tunnel used to test student-designed prototypes, including parachutes, water speed vehicles, and motorbikes. The tunnel features a six-axis balance to measure lift, drag, side force, pitching moment, yaw torque, and roll torque, along with a modern data logging system. Additionally, the laser Doppler anemometry system enables precise velocity measurements within the wind tunnel.
Our materials and metrology labs offer hands-on experience with expert support from qualified technicians. The materials lab allows the study of structural properties, featuring heat treatment ovens, test machines for destructive and non-destructive testing, and micro-analysis equipment. The metrology lab is equipped to measure manufactured parts, with facilities ranging from conventional tools like micrometers and vernier callipers to a state-of-the-art co-ordinate measuring machine (CMM).
The electronic laboratories combine traditional and computer-aided methods for teaching electronics. Students have access to breadboards with real components, special-purpose demonstrator equipment, computer-aided tools with teaching software, and modern commercial test equipment.
The lab also uses special-purpose computers for data acquisition and interface projects. In addition to National Instrument equipment, including LABView software for controlling FPGA-based devices and developing microcontroller code. Lab technicians provide support with circuit design, software development in LABView, and prototype circuit manufacturing using ESD-safe facilities.
The machine/fabrication lab is a fully-equipped manufacturing facility. It provides invaluable hands-on experience.
With the help of qualified technicians, students can use:
- conventional and computerised numerical controlled (CNC) machine tools
- fabrication/welding facilities – including manual metal arc (MMA), tungsten inert gas (TIG), metal inert gas (MIG) and an oxy-acetylene capability
- the advanced manufacturing area – with the latest state-of-the-art rapid prototyping (3D printing) capability. Using both acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and powder technology.
The composites laboratory at the Roehampton Vale campus is an environment for educational, research, and development activity in composite materials and structures.
The aims of the laboratory are to promote the understanding and the use of composite materials, to maintain advanced manufacturing and testing facilities to conduct basic research, and to provide an up-to-date knowledge and technology base.
Our composites lab is designated to allow the full range of specimen manufacture, preparation, and testing. The manufacture of composite components and specimens can be done in either an autoclave or a vacuum hot press.
Accessibility information
This campus has two buildings with lift access to all floors. There is accessible parking for Blue Badge holders.
You can see detailed accessibility guides for all our sites on the website. You can also view our inclusive facilities on our campus map.
Roehampton Vale campus map
Download our campus map (PDF)
Where to find Roehampton Vale campus
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Roehampton Vale
Friars Avenue
London
SW15 3DW
United Kingdom
51.437343365888, -0.25161266326904
How to get here
Located just three miles from Kingston town centre, our Roehampton Vale campus can be accessed easily by public transport.
Trains run regularly from London Waterloo to Kingston station (four trains per hour midweek, journey times 28–33 minutes), which is in Travelcard Zone 6.
From Kingston station
- take the train to Kingston
- leave the railway station via the main exit
- cross the lights to the left onto Cromwell Road (for the bus station)
- take the 85 or K3 bus
- get off at the 'Roehampton Vale Asda' stop
- cross the road (Stag Lane)
- Roehampton Vale campus is immediately opposite, down Friars Avenue
The 85, 265 and K3 buses stop outside the campus. We also run a free intersite bus service for students, staff and visitors. The KU1 bus stops at this campus and links the campus with the Kingston and Surbiton mainline stations, other campuses and halls of residence.
Cycle parking facilities and showers are available at this site.
We strongly recommend visitors use the excellent public transport links instead of driving.
The University has limited on-site parking facilities and prioritises staff during core working hours (Monday to Friday, 7.30am to 4.30pm). Limited visitor parking is available, but must be pre-booked through the person you are visiting, as parking enforcement measures are in operation at all sites. Parking is provided on all sites for blue badge holders and there are docking bays for electric cars.
All car park users agree to the University car parking terms and conditions.
Contact us
Need more information?
Contact us to find the right person to reach out to, or call our switchboard on +44 (0)20 8417 9000.
