Beatrice Shilling Building

The £29 million building features a range of state-of-the-art spaces including a gaming and virtual reality studio, a specialist area for 3D printing and rapid prototyping, a laser facility, and physics and electronics laboratories.

It also includes seminar, tutorial and PC rooms, as well as social and collaborative learning areas for students, staff and researchers.

It is named after Beatrice Shilling who was born in Waterlooville, Hampshire in 1909. Beatrice was a British aeronautical engineer and a keen racing driver. She studied electrical engineering at Manchester University and received a bachelor’s degree in 1932. She continued to study for an additional year and later received a Master of Science degree in Mechanical engineering. During WW2 she made modifications to the Merlin engine that was used in Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes. Shilling raced motorbikes at Brooklands in the 1930s, one of only three women awarded a British Motorcycle Racing Club Gold Star for lapping the circuit at over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h). It was also at Brooklands coincidently where Frederick Lanchester’s 40HP Rapson broke eleven world records.