The Advanced Hackspace brings together inventive minds from all backgrounds, disciplines and levels of expertise to collaborate, experiment and innovate. 

Imperial has great facilities for funded and established research. But what if you want to work on something more speculative, or across disciplinary boundaries, or which you don’t have facilities for in your department?  

The Imperial College Advanced Hackspace allows all Imperial staff to explore and develop research ideas – whether you have a detailed plan of action for creating a prototype product, or just want to explore and see where it takes you.  

The community, located in the Invention Rooms on the White City Campus, is open to all at Imperial – we currently have over 3,000 members. Our facilities include rapid prototyping, modelling and fabrication spaces, and are equipped with the latest technology to help you bring your idea to life. Individual staff can access our space for free, and we have options to support Imperial spinout companies – get in touch with us to find out more. 

We have three purpose designed prototyping and fabrication spaces developed to complement each other and accelerate multi-disciplinary prototyping, making and collaboration: 

  • Electronics and Digital Manufacturing Workshop: Fused-Deposition-Modelling (FDM) printing and electronics prototyping. 10x Up Minis, 5x Ultimakers (3 & S5), 2x Marked forged onyx, 1x Raise3d, Stereolithography (SLA) printing, 3x Formlabs Form3’s; Laser cutters, electronics prototyping including PCB CNC mill, soldering and de-soldering equipment, reflow oven, test equipment, oscilloscopes and basic hardware prototyping with hand tools. 
  • Biochemistry Lab: Nikon TE200 fluorescent microscope, Thermal Cycler, Shaking incubator with 6L capacity, Spectrophotometer, fume hood, cell culture hood, bioreactor, heated water bath, sonicating water bath, probe tip sonicator, autoclave, pH meter and balances, deionised water. 
  • Mechanical Workshop: Metal: Metal lathe, Bridgeport Mill, Haas CNC Mill, Stock bandsaw, guillotine, tube bender, welding station and Pillar Drill. Wood: Bandsaws, Pillar Drill, Panel Saw, Disk and Belt Sander, AXYZ CNC Router, power tools and hand tools. 

We also have a Coworking and Learning Zone, with hot-desking space for computer work and learning zone for group work.  

We’re not just a set of facilities: we’re a community, bringing together staff and students from across Imperial. Our resident Hack fellows are on hand to offer expert advice, and we have an exciting year-round programme of events covering a vast array of topics and with speakers from all the world.