Making better and wider use of undergraduate teaching laboratories in the support of chemistry in the UK

The Chemistry Departments at Bristol and Sheffield Universities have adopted two complementary approaches to maximising the use of teaching laboratory space, in the main to support secondary school level study. The two approaches involve the adaptation of a small part of a teaching laboratory or the use of the whole of the undergraduate teaching laboratories themselves. In the former case a small number of students can enjoy their use throughout the week and in the latter a large number of students can use the facilities one day per week in undergraduate term time and in the remaining 18 weeks of the year when not required for undergraduate teaching. This paper describes the development and the challenges to be overcome with both scenarios and the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches, using an example from each.