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 21st November 2011
Present:
Mr G Bennett (Chair), Mr J Buckingham, Mrs V Hill, Mr D Mace, Mr J Owen, Mr A Perry, Mr C Singleton, Ms M
Thacker.
Apologies:
Ms L Holland, Mr P Jones, Ms B Lambert, Mrs P Mealing.
16/11-12Minutes
CONSIDERED:
The notes of the meeting held on 28 October 2011.
RESOLVED:
That the minutes be approved.
17/11-12Future Refurbishments
REPORTED (by the Chair):
(a) That £1m of CIF2 funding had been allocated to the refurbishment of teaching spaces in the Ramphal
Building and, dependent on budget, Social Sciences;
(b) That a meeting would be held on 6 December, with IATL and other stakeholders, to discuss the project in
more detail.
CONSIDERED:
(a) Updates from the following areas in relation to the proposed ‘Standard’ and ‘High Standard’
specification for small (up to 40 people), medium (40-100 people) and large (101+ people) CTTRs:
(i)
AV (CTTR.5/11-12)
(ii) Furniture (CTTR.6/11-12)
(iii) Small Works (CTTR.8/11-12)
(iv) Conferences (CTTR.7/11-12)
(b) Further considerations around future refurbishments, including the image / branding of CTTRs,
affordability, scheduling of work, phasing of work, alignment with Ramphal project.
REPORTED (by the Lead Technical Specialist):
(a) That in addition to the specification outlined above in paper CTTR.5/11-12 the following be noted:
(i)
The inclusion of glass whiteboards would allow for more flexible teaching space, with the ability
to change the colour of the backing for users;
(ii)
The estimated cost of lecture capture through Echo360 lecture capture would be around £2000
per appliance per room plus a licence fee for the year of £40000-£60000, noting that this would
however bring the University into line with other top universities currently using the hardware.
(b) That in relation to the discussion surrounding branding/image of CTTRs the following be noted:
(i)
The specification for CTTRs would need to be flexible in order to be improved on after each
project/each year;
(ii)
That teaching rooms had the potential to be fitted with different AV equipment thereby creating
rooms with different functions, although this would be subject to scheduling difficulties.
REPORTED (by the Assistant Furniture and Equipment Officer):
(a) That in relation to the discussion surrounding branding/image of CTTRs the following be noted:
(i)
That, in her opinion, it would be beneficial for the chairs to be the same colour in order to control
the stock of CTTR chairs;
(ii)
That specifications from the Furniture and Equipment section would be determined by the
timetabled capacity of the room and space planning regulations;
(iii)
That if higher standard furniture was introduced then there would be a requirement for a central
or local store of CTTR furniture in order to house any surplus furniture or standard furniture that
would be used by Warwick Conferences;
(iv)
That there was funding available from the Green Fund for projects that would involve the
installation of energy efficient heating and lighting;
(v)
That with more technical and flexible furniture further training would need to be provided to
room users, potentially demonstrating a need for a dedicated technician/facility manager.
REPORTED (by the Small Works Manager):
(a) That in relation to the discussion surrounding branding/image of CTTRs the following be noted:
(i)
That ensuring full DDA access to all CTTRs would be expensive, noting that it may be more
efficient to create ‘specialist’ disabled access rooms;
(ii)
That the installation of dimmable lighting would be expensive, costing around £15000-£20000 on
a small teaching room, but that this addition would greatly enhance the quality of the room;
(iii)
That any future refurbishments of CTTRs would need to retain any image/branding;
(iv)
That lecture theatres across the University tend to be unique in design, therefore any future
refurbishments would need to be planned as ‘one-off’ projects;
(v)
That future works should be pre-planned as far as possible in advance in order to ensure that any
building work complied with new building and fire regulations.
REPORTED (by Clive Singleton):
That in relation to the discussion surrounding branding/image of CTTRs the following be noted:
(a) That Warwick Conferences was experiencing more demand for exhibition space from companies and as a
result future refurbishment would need to take into consideration the need for exhibition space outside
of rooms;
(b) That the ability to record audio and visual material in Conferences was now a key requirement for many
companies;
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Assistant Secretary create a document outlining a ‘Standard’ specification for the refurbishment
of CTTRs to be taken forward to the meeting with IATL on 6th December;
(b) That the Assistant Secretary look into the development of a photo competition, which would provide
photos to decorate the walls of CTTRs;
(c) That the Chair and Assistant Furniture and Equipment Officer look into the possibility of obtaining
funding for the installation of energy efficient heating and lighting from the Green Fund and other such
sources.
18/11-12Ad Hoc Comments Regarding CTTRs
REPORTED:
That a colleague in the Department of History had reported that there was no mobile lectern in R0.12, it
being noted that the previous table-top lectern was missing.
RESOLVED:
That the Assistant Secretary monitor the number of requests for mobile lecterns and report back to the Group
at the next meeting.
19/11-12Ramphal Project
REPORTED (by the Small Works Manager):
That Mike Osborn had been selected as Project Manager for the Ramphal Refurbishment Project.
RESOLVED:
That the Small Works Manager arrange a meeting for the Chair with Mike Osborn to discuss the project.
20/11-12Date of Next Meeting
RESOLVED:
That the Assistant Secretary arrange the meeting for early in the Spring Term. (Adam)