UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Standing Group Responsible for the Maintenance and Refurbishment of
Centrally Timetabled Rooms
Notes from the meeting of the Group on Monday 20 October 2014
Present:
Dr J Gardner (Chair), Mr J Buckingham, Ms R Burdick, Ms L Holland, Mr P Jones,
Mrs E Morrison, Mr J Owen, Mr H Rowles.
Apologies:
Mr D Mace, Mr C Singleton.
18/14-15
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting held on 22 September 2014 be approved.
19/14-15
Matters Arising
(a)
Door Signs – Centre for Lifelong Learning Building (minute 2/14-15 referred)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That the Space Management Assistant had visited the rooms on 25 September
2014 and that the signs had been installed.
(b)
Nosings in Woods-Scawen Room (minute 6/14-15 referred)
REPORTED: (by the Interior Design, Furniture and Equipment Officer)
That the work had been booked for week commencing 8 December and that
the carpet contractors were confirmed and she was waiting for the seating
contractor to confirm.
(c)
Campus Walkaround (minute 7/14-15 referred)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That the Space Management Assistant carried out the Campus
Walkaround with Senior Conference Assistant, James Bell, on 26
September 2014.
(by the Interior Design, Furniture and Equipment Officer)
(ii)
That H2.46, Humanities was currently missing some tablet armchairs but
that the number of chairs kept changing;
(iii) That she had received a report of extra tables in A0.05, Social Sciences
and was looking into this on Wednesday morning;
(iv) That she was aware that CAL had some extra tables which they used for
events and these may be the additional tables in A0.05.
(by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(v) That A0.05 was controlled by CAL and the only refurbishment project had
been replacement windows.
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RESOLVED:
That the Interior Design, Furniture and Equipment Officer raise a purchase
order if any additional chairs were required for H2.46
(d)
Warwick Arts Centre Cinema Refurbishment (minute 10(a-c)/14-15 referred)
REPORTED: (by the Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager)
(i)
That a date had not been set for the refurbishment of the seating, since it
was unclear whether a full refurbishment or a spot refurbishment would be
needed.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(ii)
That his team was currently working on a website page for the cinema and
that it would be ready by the end of the week;
(iii) That his team was creating pages for the IT work areas to add to a
separate section of the AV website as people were booking them because
they thought they were teaching rooms;
(iv) That his team was creating room pages for some locally timetabled
teaching rooms.
RESOLVED:
(e)
(i)
That the Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager confirm with
Warwick Arts Centre which type of refurbishment of the seating they
wanted and arrange a suitable date for the works next year;
(ii)
That the Space Management Assistant confirm that the cinema page had
been created on the AV services website.
Plans for refurbishment of CTTRs in 2014-2015 (minute 12(a-c)/14-15 referred)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(i)
That it was unclear if Estates would be able to fund the replacement of
the air conditioning in the PLT as their budget for minor works had been
cut;
(ii)
That it was planned that Lib1 and Lib2 would be decommissioned when
the new Teaching and Learning Building was completed for the start of
16/17 but that plans for their subsequent usage were still under
discussion;
(iii)
That it would be difficult to do any building works in Social Sciences this
year due to departmental moves in the summer.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(iv)
That the costs of refurbishing PLT should be revisited, noting that
comments from Physics had indicated that the room was generally in
good condition but that the teaching wall needed refurbishing;
(v)
That he had looked at projectors in all CTTR rooms and there were 50
projectors over 5 years old;
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(vi)
That it would cost £135,000+VAT to replace the projectors in the seminar
rooms, noting that the mix of analogue and digital technology meant it
was not always easy to swap projectors;
(vii)
That given the backlog in AV maintenance, ideally a total of circa
£320,000 was required over the next 12 months to replace projectors in
the seminar rooms, as well as to update the AV in the larger lecture
rooms.
(viii)
That Lecture Capture was currently recording 150 lectures a week and
that there was demand for this in other spaces;
(ix)
That given the state of the AV, it might be unwise to invest all the budget
in refurbishment of a single ‘showcase’ room in 2014/15;
(x)
That using the teaching wall as a feature could be a more cost effective
way of updating a room and also allowed for the update of AV in the
room;
(xi)
That there was no budget available from ITS for projectors but that ITS
would fund the Lecture Capture systems;
(xii)
That if a commitment to update AV could be secured, then it would be
possible to negotiate a discount and any savings could be used to
improve AV in additional rooms.
(by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(xiii)
That it was better value for money to replace the projectors than to
refurbish PLT since more users would benefit;
(xiv) That it was difficult to make a tiered lecture theatre into a showcase;
(xv)
That the most important items to keep up to date in a room were furniture
and AV and that minor building works cost a lot of money for a small
benefit.
(by the Estates Project Manager)
(xvi) That the construction of the teaching wall in A0.23 had cost £6,500;
(xvii) That standardising rooms did not improve the student experience.
CONSIDERED:
A profile of projected AV expenditure for this year and next year, as set out in
paper CTTR.3/14-15, noting that this was tabled at the meeting.
RESOLVED:
(i)
That the Chair discuss AV priorities with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(Academic Planning and Resources) and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
(Teaching and Learning) at a forthcoming meeting;
(ii)
That the Chair provide some analysis of the departmental usage patterns
of teaching rooms for the next meeting.
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(f)
S0.50/51 Social Studies Building (minute 13/14-15 referred)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That complaints had been received about the capacity and chairs in S0.50 but
that it was not possible to reduce the capacity due to timetabling constraints.
(g)
Induction Loop Problems in Ramphal Lecture Theatre (minute 15(b-c)/14-15
referred)
REPORTED: (by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(i)
That the cost of an IR induction loop system would be £3,402+VAT, noting
this would be easy to install and would solve the problem with two emitters
positioned either side of the screen;
(ii)
That the induction loop system could remain as is, with the seats where
the system worked well clearly advertised, or that the IR system could be
installed, noting there were only 5 pendants;
(iii) That additional pendants could be hired and pendants used by
Conferences and Warwick Arts Centre may be compatible;
(iv) That Warwick Arts Centre currently use the IR system in their rooms;
(v) That he was not aware of any complaints by students about the current
induction loop system.
(by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(vi) That he had received several complaints from conference users and that
the number of disabled conference delegates was increasing;
(vii) That Conferences had a portable system which they used in the
Panorama Room, noting that this only covered 80m2 and therefore
restricted where people could sit.
RESOLVED:
20/14-15
(i)
That the Conferences Senior Duty Manager confirm if Conferences would
fund the cost of the IR system;
(ii)
That the Lead Technical Specialist confirm if the IR system and induction
loop could work together at the same time.
Chair’s Business
(a)
Approved expenditure for A0.23, Social Sciences
REPORTED:
That the Chair had taken action on behalf of the Group to approve spend of the
following amounts from the Refurb Group budget:
(i) £7,915 plus VAT on lecture theatre carpet, lobby carpet and furniture
for A0.23;
(ii) £11,114.89 on a new lighting scheme for A0.23.
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(b)
Structural alterations to S0.50/51, Social Sciences
REPORTED:
That the Chair had taken action on behalf of the Group to approve spend of
£5,242.83 plus VAT from the Refurb Group budget to carry out structural
alterations to S0.50/51.
(c)
Installation of Visualiser in PS1.28, Physical Science
REPORTED:
That the Chair had taken action on behalf of the Group to approve spend of
approximately £1,600 from the Refurb Group budget on installing a visualiser in
PS1.28.
(d)
Installation of new digital screen in H2.45, Humanities
REPORTED:
(i)
That the Chair had taken action on behalf of the Group to approve spend
of £3,424.80 plus VAT from the Refurb Group budget on installing a new
digital screen in H2.45.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(ii)
That the screen was being installed in around 2 weeks’ time, taking 1 day
to install and that he was liaising with timetabling to find a suitable date;
(iii) That equipment could be made available temporarily for the room.
(e)
Replacement of chairs in Woods-Scawen Lecture Theatre, Arts Centre
REPORTED:
That the Chair had taken action on behalf of the Group to approve spend of
£672 plus VAT from the Refurb Group budget on replacing 7 chairs in the
Woods-Scawen Lecture Theatre.
21/14-15
2014-15 Refurb Group Budget
CONSIDERED:
A summary of the current budget position for the present academic year (CTTR.2/1415(revised)).
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That the non-AV budget should be £400k;
(b) That traditionally £100k had been set aside for general maintenance which made
available £300k for the showcase;
(c) That she and the Assistant Registrar had received training to approve
expenditure against the Refurb Group cost codes on OPeRA.
(by the Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager)
(d) That she approved all furniture orders for the University;
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(e) That once an order had been placed it would need to be amended on SAP and
OPeRA.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(f)
That he approved all AV orders for the University.
RESOLVED:
That the Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager review her approval route
on OPeRA to see if it needed amending to accommodate the new process.
22/14-15
Ramphal Lecture Theatre (R0.21)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That some complaints had been received from a departmental student
representative about the lack of writing surfaces in the Ramphal Lecture Theatre;
(b) That complaints had also been received from staff about lack of writing surfaces
for students in Warwick Arts Centre cinema;
(c) That the new Teaching and Learning Building would be equipped with tables or
benches;
(d) That the room capacities for the new Teaching and Learning Building had been
determined by the Space Management and Timetabling Team based on
timetabling requirements.
(by the Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager)
(e) That due to the dimensions and layout of R0.21 it was not possible to have
tables or desks installed;
(f)
That the tablet chairs were frequently misused and broke easily and cost around
£80-£90 to replace per chair;
(g) That she had concerns about whether the plans for the new Teaching and
Learning Building were DDA compliant and could accommodate the proposed
capacities.
(by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(h) That he did not consider the proposed odd shaped rooms in the new Teaching
and Learning Building were not practical and caused problems.
CONSIDERED:
Complaints received from students about a lack of writing surfaces in the Ramphal
Lecture Theatre.
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Chair arrange for the plans for the new Teaching and Learning Building
to be shared;
(b) That the Chair arrange a meeting to discuss room capacities and furniture for the
new Teaching and Learning Building specifically with the Senior Project
Manager.
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23/14-15
Proposed Alterations to H052
REPORTED: (by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(a) That he was confident that the Open University booking for H0.52 would go
ahead;
(b) That the booking was for the 4 July 2015, noting that the modifications would
need to be completed by June.
RESOLVED:
(a) That in light of renewed confirmation of the booking from the Conferences Senior
Duty Manager, the Group was supportive of the works taking place;
(b) That the Conferences Senior Duty Manager would confirm when there was a
week free in H0.52 and arrange a suitable date for the modifications with the
Interior Design, Furniture and Equipment Manager.
24/14-15
Timescales for Refurbishment
REPORTED: (by the Interior Design, Furniture and Equipment Manager)
(a) That the refurbishment timings, particularly for A0.23 and S0.50, had been
extremely tight and not allowed enough time for furniture to be installed;
(b) That the Law School requested that all furniture be installed a week before it was
required but that this had increased the costs and not been necessary.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(c) That AV Services had experienced similar issues with refurbishments and also
confusion with moves taking place over the summer.
(by the Estates Project Manager)
(d) That a week had been scheduled at the end of the project for furniture but that
due to unforeseen circumstances the project had been delayed.
(by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(e) That the Law School extension was a good example as it had been organised
around Conferences and teaching to minimise disruption.
RESOLVED:
(a) That as much notice as possible be provided to all parties regarding potential
moves in the summer;
(b) That more time be scheduled at the end of projects to allow for furniture and AV
to be installed;
(c) That the Chair arrange a wash-up meeting once the refurbishment of A0.23 was
completed to learn lessons.
25/14-15
Dates of the Future Meetings
RESOLVED:
That the next meeting of the Group was on Wednesday 19 November 2014.
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