This building will support cutting edge research and expert teaching at the University and will provide even more opportunities for students to develop their skills alongside expert academic staff.

The new building houses research laboratory spaces, a microscopy room, nitrogen laboratory, autoclave room and much more. The facility also boasts plenty of breakout areas and seminar spaces, so students can combine practical skill development with research and knowledge building.

Drama by Design were engaged by the University to carry out the design, co-ordination, project management, testing and commissioning of all the AV systems throughout the new building.

The main teaching lab consists of three rooms with moveable partitions to enable them be combined as either two rooms or one large room. Each room is equipped with a full AV system incorporating a 98” main display, and two 50” repeater screens to cover the rear of the room. Everything is controlled via an Extron control system and touch control panel on the lectern.

A PTZ camera provides for lecture capture, but also enables lectures to show a close up of work being carried out on the lecturer’s front table on the room displays. Ceiling microphones provide for both lecture capture and sound reinforcement via ceiling speakers. There is also an AV over IP link to a camera in the cell culture lab, to enable work in the lab to be shown in the main teaching lab and seminar rooms.

The AV system enables rooms to be joined together depending on the status of the room dividers. This not only extends the AV system from the central lectern to either (or both) of the spaces either side, but also provided extended sound reinforcement to the adjacent spaces and provides talk back from the adjacent spaces, in to the other spaces.

In addition to the teaching labs, there are also several seminar/meeting rooms in the building. These are all equipped with custom built lecterns with Extron control systems and touch panels driving 86” large format displays.

The rooms have both front facing PTZ camera for lecture capture and audience facing cameras for hybrid lectures, to enable remote participants to see the rest of the class.

Other rooms include a dedicated meeting room with 55” large format display and video bar and the cell culture lab, which in addition to the PTZ camera that can be viewed in any of the teaching spaces, also features an 86” display, local input and wall mounted touch control panel.