UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK
Standing Group Responsible for the Maintenance and Refurbishment of
Centrally Timetabled Rooms
Notes from the meeting of the Group held on Monday 11 November 2013
Present:
Dr E Melia (Chair), Mr J Buckingham, Ms L Holland, Mrs E Jeffrey, Mrs K Jenkins, Mr P
Jones, Mr J Owen, Ms E Spencer.
Apologies:
Mr C Singleton, Mr D Mace.
12/13-14
Minutes
RESOLVED:
That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 September 2013 be approved.
13/13-14
Campus Walkaround (minute 06/13-14 refers)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That the Space Management Assistant carried out the Campus Walkaround with Senior
Conference Assistant, Kim Carlile, on 27 September 2013.
14/13-14
Conference Feedback B2.04 and B2.02 (minute 5/13-14 refers)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That she had taken Chair’s Action on behalf of the Refurb Group to approve spend of
£597.00 plus VAT from the Refurb Group budget on installation of film on the windows in
B2.02 and B2.04/05.
(b) That if the film installed in B2.02 and B2.04/05 was successful in blocking light from
affecting the projector then it could also be installed in B2.01 and B2.03.
(by the Project Coordinator)
(c) That the film had been installed in B2.02 and B2.04/05.
RESOLVED:
That the Lead Technical Specialist visit B2.01 and B2.03 to observe whether the projection
equipment was affected by the lack of blinds and then report back to the Group whether they
will require installation of film on the windows.
15/13-14
AV Equipment (minute 10/13-14 refers)
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That the Chair had taken Chair’s Action on behalf of the Refurb Group to approve spend
of £26,004.60 plus VAT from the Refurb Group budget on upgrading the old microphone
system in several lecture theatres.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(b) That due to the negative feedback from lecturers regarding the old microphones, new
docking stations and rechargeable microphones had been installed in all centrally
timetabled lecture theatres.
(c) That the new microphones would enable the use of the audio function of the recently
installed lecture capture technology.
16/13-14
Lecture Capture Trial (minute 02/13-14 refers)
CONSIDERED:
An oral update from the Chair regarding the new Lecture Capture system and subsequent AV
spend.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That the Student Union was keen for all lecture theatres to have the Lecture Capture
system, however this would require a significant amount of additional server storage
space which would be costly.
(b) That the Students Union should be aware that the Lecture Capture system may not be
suitable for all departments’ style of teaching.
(c) That the Lecture Capture system would allow for simultaneous streaming, so large
capacity classes could be split between two lecture theatres.
(d) That though the Lecture Capture system had been installed, there was still a need for an
increased server storage capacity, which would come at a cost.
(e) That the Lecture Capture project would need to overcome some cultural opposition such
as; policy decisions needed on how compulsory the Lecture Capture system would be,
the current inability of capturing information displayed on Whiteboards/Blackboards and
the issues surrounding intellectual property of lecture content.
(by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(f) That the system would be useful for Conferences if it was available for external use.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(g) That there may be concerns with recording data for external use and that the
Conferences Senior Duty Manager would need to speak to, Simon Gilling (University
Legal Adviser), regarding the recording of external speakers.
RESOLVED:
That the Lead Technical Specialist provide the Chair with details on which WBS/Economics
lectures were currently using the Lecture Capture technology to simultaneously stream in
another location, due to oversubscription.
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17/13-14
Additional Refurb Group Budget (minute 7/13-14 refers)
CONSIDERED:
An oral update from the Chair regarding the additional Refurb Group budget.
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That the Finance Director had confirmed that the Refub Group budget was £500,000 for
2013-14, however did not foresee all of it being used this academic year and that he
required a schedule of works to determine how much the Group would spend before the
end of the financial year.
(b) That the Group needed to decide which CTTRs were in most need of refurbishment and
that these rooms could then be re-carpeted, walls could be touched-up, have new lighting
fitted, new furniture, and/or new blinds.
(c) That the Refurb Group would continue the aim to spend £100,000 of the budget on usual
maintenance items, with the remainder of the budget being put towards significant CTTR
refurbishment projects.
(d) That A0.23 and a couple of the ground floor teaching spaces in the Social Studies
Building had been identified as initial refurbishment projects for 2013/14, as they would
have a greater impact on student experience, with a view to undertaking the
refurbishment of the remainder of the ground floor teaching spaces in the Social Studies
Building during the next academic year.
(e) That there was a Minor Works bid being submitted regarding the maintenance of space
on Westwood Campus, and subsequently the Director of Estates had asked if the Refurb
Group budget could be used to upgrade the CTTR WE0.01.
(f) That if only minor updates were required to WE0.01, then the room could be refurbished
during Easter 2014.
(by the Conferences Senior Duty Manager)
(g) That Conferences had received complaints regarding the standard of the projector
equipment in the Wood Scawen room.
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Lead Technical Specialist investigate the cost of upgrading the projector
equipment in the Wood Scawen room to the same standard as the rest of the Arts Centre.
(b) That the Refurb Group provide the Chair with any suggestions of CTTRs that were in
need of refurbishment, by the end of November 2013.
(c) That the Chair arrange a meeting with the Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research (Life
Sciences and Medicine) and Capital Development, Director of Strategic Planning &
Analytics, Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager and the Lead Technical
Specialist to agree a priority list of CTTRs to be refurbished this academic year.
(d) That the Project Coordinator produce a proposed schedule of works once a priority list of
CTTRs in need of refurbishment had been established.
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18/13-14
Digi Lab Auditorium
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That Central Timetabling had been offered some use of the Digi Lab Auditorium as a
hybrid room, however they were unable to move teaching into the rooms as there was a
lack of a whiteboard/blackboard.
(by the Lead Technical Specialist)
(b) That there was a void behind the front wall of the Digi Lab Auditorium that could be used
as storage for portable whiteboards.
RESOLVED:
That the Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager speak to Simon Fox in WMG to
investigate the possibility of storing a moveable whiteboard/blackboard in the Digital Lab
Auditorium, that could enable its use as a hybrid teaching room for some centrally timetabled
activity.
19/13-14
Broken Furniture
REPORTED: (by the Interior Design, Furniture & Equipment Manager)
That furniture in the International Portal (R0.12, Ramphal Building) had been intentionally
damaged and that she was waiting for a quote to have it repaired.
20/13-14
Missing Furniture
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
That the Chair and Timetabling Officer were meeting with the Estates Facilities Manger
regarding complaints they had received from porters concerning missing furniture from
centrally timetabled teaching rooms.
21/13-14
2013-14 Refurb Group Budget (minute 7/13-14 refers)
RECEIVED:
A summary of the current budget position for the present academic year (CTTR.2/1314(revised), copy attached).
22/13-14
Inappropriate Bookings
REPORTED: (by the Chair)
(a) That the Central Timetabling Team were taking more proactive steps to address
inappropriate bookings, such as performance group bookings in classroom style teaching
rooms, and student bookings with potential to disturb neighbouring classes and damaging
furniture.
(b) That she had prepared a form requesting extra information for people who wanted to book
lecture theatres with a capacity of 150 or over for more than three hours.
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23/13-14
Date of the Future Meetings
CONSIDERED:
The dates for future meetings of the Group.
RESOLVED:
That the Group would meet from 10:00-12:00 on the following dates;
2013-14:
Monday 13th January 2014
Monday 10th March 2014
Monday 12th May 2014
Monday 14th July 2014
Monday 15th September 2014
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