Have you been wondering about the strange new building that popped up on Newcastle University campus during lockdown? Want to know what we’re building, and get up close and personal with our exciting biodesign prototypes?

The Hub for Biotechnology for the Built Environment (HBBE) invites you to the _OME, to find out about our projects, what we have been working on over the past 18 months, and discuss our future plans. HBBE is a joint initiative between Newcastle and Northumbria Universities developing novel biotechnologies to create a new generation of ‘Living Buildings’, funded by Research England.

As part of our work, we have built the _OME, an experimental building in the heart of the Newcastle University campus. The _OME is where HBBE researchers come together to collaborate, test, and demonstrate their technologies at building scale, and it will provide a space to engage with external partners and the public to shape our future research.
The _OME is now complete, and we are bringing the building to life with a diverse range of experimental prototypes which address the key HBBE research themes - biomaterials for living construction, understanding and modulating the domestic microbiome, and processing domestic waste to create useful products. We are exploring the interactions between these technologies to begin to understand how to create self-sustaining, regenerative, living buildings which benefit human and ecological health and wellbeing.

Follow us on social media to find out more about how to join us to say ‘Hello_OME’, and join the conversation about how we re-imagine the built environment.