Climate control rooms

There are 2 climate control rooms that can hold temperatures with a tolerance of plus or minus 0.5 degree Celsius within the range of 18 degrees to 42 degrees including relative humidity control to mimic a climate event, such as a heat wave. The 2 rooms measure 10m × 10m and can be further divided in half creating 4 smaller rooms.

The climate control rooms have mesh floors and an open plan for installation of penning systems specific to species and experimental design. The lighting, temperature, humidity cycles and frequency of air exchanges can be set and programmed automatically with a 24 hour alarm system if any of the parameters start to exceed the set range.

The climate control chambers can be set up to mimic a range of naturally occurring environments based on specific parameters as set by the researcher. Parameters that can be set include the temperature, the relative humidity, levels of light and types of rainfall. In addition to the levels of light, the speed at which the lights turn on and off can be altered to reproduce sunrise and sunset at different times of the year. The climate control rooms can also be set up as methane chambers to facilitate methane research. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can be set up and alarms will be set off by the Building Management System (BMS) if any of the set parameters come close to being breached. This ensures studies can be conducted with no disruption to the intended experimental design.

The climate control facility has been designed with the option to install cameras to allow remote surveillance of the animals during experimental trials.

A range of animals can be housed in the climate rooms as there are large drinking troughs designed for cattle and other large livestock, and there are also smaller drinking troughs for sheep and other smaller livestock. The animals enter the climate rooms using an external race-way leading from a holding yard that is also designed to hold both large and small livestock. The innovative design of the races makes it safe and streamlined for the animals, handlers and researchers. The large holding yard if required allows the animals to be held between trials for extended periods.

The climate control facility is a large enclosed space as it is standard practice within QASP to allow rooms to be set up according to the specific needs of each trial. There is a large feed preparation room located adjacent to the two climate rooms which has large benches, two large sinks, shelving and storage areas and a large cold room located adjacent to the food preparation area.