We have created an environment that brings together essential student facilities for study, socialising, health and wellbeing. The early engagement with Pure AV and close collaboration through design and delivery made for a seamless audio visual installation and the creation of some fantastic facilities for our staff and students. - Richard Pinnington, Head of Capital Project, LJMU
- Richard Pinnington, Head of Capital Project, LJMU
Opening at the start of the 2021/22 academic year, the Copperas Hill development introduces the five-story Student Life Building, housing a range of student-facing services, including a wellbeing centre, an individual and group study area, the Student’s Union and general teaching spaces. A second Sports Building offers outstanding facilities such as an eight-court sports hall, two multi-purpose halls and a state-of-the-art gym.
A long-standing AV partner, Pure AV, was appointed following a competitive tender to provide the new development’s audiovisual services.
The Student Life Building is a focal point for student activity on campus. It provides a central hub for study, socialising and access to essential student support services. Facilities onsite include 23 group study spaces equipped with technology to enable small group collaboration and project work.
Each group study space is designed to operate in the same way and offers students the choice to connect to the main display via HDMI or wirelessly using the Solstice pod. By opting to use the Solstice system, up to four students can share their content wirelessly to the main screen, supporting group and project work activity. Control is kept simple with an Extron push-button panel. In larger rooms, the screen size is increased, and JBL soundbars added as needed.
The AV in the 15 general teaching areas offers a consistent experience for anyone using the teaching space, regardless of the room selected. The furniture in many rooms is also flexible to allow the layout to adapt between tutorial and lecture-style usage.
Epson laser projectors provide clear and bright teaching surfaces, complemented by crisp audio delivered via Extron speakers, Sennheiser microphones and an infra-red hard-of-hearing system. Angekis IP HD PTZ cameras with 20 x digital zoom feed into the Panopto lecture capture system, which LJMU uses as standard across campus. The system designed to capture high-quality lesson content for later distribution and review.
Top-Tec explorer lecterns create a comfortable teaching station, housing a Wolfvision visualiser, gooseneck microphone and 22” confidence monitor. Lecturers can choose to use the in-room PC or connect a laptop via HDMI, or wirelessly using the Solstice system. An Extron touchscreen keeps control of the room straightforward.
In addition to the general teaching spaces, the Student Life building also houses a collaborative training room designed to enhance active learning approaches. This room contains six group worktables, each with a dedicated 43” display and local connectivity provided via an HDMI input plate or using the Mersive Solstice pod. An Extron matrix enables the lecturer to freely select and distribute content between the main teaching wall and each screen.
In keeping with other teaching areas, an Extron touch panel hosts the user interface, programmed by Pure AV with simple visual layouts to make source selection and the movement of content between displays easy to manage.
Digital signage is present in all circulation spaces. The Onelan media players and large format Philips displays providing an engaging canvas for university communications throughout the building.
The new Sports Building is an impressive venue, bringing first-class sporting facilities to the University. The scale and multi-purpose nature of the halls meaning that the AV system specified needed to be both robust and mobile.
Housed on Top-Tec Adapt trolleys, the teaching stations with 75” Philips displays can be wheeled into position when needed and removed from the active areas when not in use. The AV system controls and connection options match those in the Student Building, offering familiarity and ease of use. Wireless handheld or Lavalier Sennheiser microphones provide freedom of movement.
The addition of a Logitech Meetup camera enables the teaching station to become an impromptu huddle space, allowing students to group round and meet with remote and guest presenters. The Meetup, domed PTZ cameras and audio system feed into the site-wide Panopto system to enable lecture capture.
The trolleys create a self-contained audiovisual system for teaching. An extra audio system is also available for use during training or events in the two large sports halls. A wall-mounted Audac control panel provides input selection and volume control, or the staff can manage the audio via an iPad app.
As the installation is within an active sporting area, it was also necessary to shield any installed equipment. As a result, protective domes surround the PTZ cameras, and the speakers are covered in mesh cages to prevent damage from stray flying objects with minimum disruption to sound quality.
Digital signage is in place throughout the circulation areas within the sports building, and TriplePlay IPTV is used to deliver content into the two onsite gyms.
The Copperas Hill development offers staff and students outstanding new facilities for study, research, sports, fitness, and wellbeing. Pure AV worked with the university’s estates, technical teams, and end-users from the very beginning of the project, helping to ensure a seamless installation process and a system design perfectly matched to the needs of university users.
Staff benefit from a consistent and intuitive user experience that enables them to extract full advantage from their new surroundings without worrying about complicated technology.
In the active sports-focused areas, the AV is familiar, readily available and protected from the rigours of the environment.