Recognised as ‘internationally excellent’ in the areas of Computer Science and Informatics and Business and Management Studies, the University of Bedfordshire recently opened a new £40m teaching and laboratory space for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses.
With more than 14,000 students, including 4,500 international students, the new facility is set out over four storeys and incorporates 6,000m2 of floorspace. ‘When the STEM building came across our desk, I said that if this was going to be the “jewel in the crown”, then it needed to be the shiniest jewel we can possibly make it,’ says Malcolm Butler, Senior A/V Programmer and Planner, Bedfordshire University.
‘We wanted quality, we wanted durability,’ he adds. ‘From a delivery standpoint on output, we wanted fidelity and clarity. We wanted something that was quite easy to use, and then simple to service from a support standpoint as well.’
Consultancy, design and integration of the project was awarded to Lancashire-based A/V specialist, PureAV. Working with the project architect, Shure’s Advance MXA910 IntelliMix DSP celling array microphones were positioned to provide coverage across the entire space, and enable the use of Voice Lift systems across the building. Expansive, multi-functional computer laboratories across the first and third floor all benefit from Microflex Advance MXA910 IntelliMix DSP systems, with QLX-D Digital Wireless systems in place for presentations from the lectures.
‘As with most Shure products that we put in, we generally don’t get any call backs,’ says Dan Saville, Project Manager and System Designer at PureAV. ‘Once it’s in, it just sits there and works. It’s a robust, solid product that just keeps doing what it needs to do.’
‘When we decided that this was the solution we wanted, [Shure] engineers were able to come in and tune the room exactly to where we need it,’ Butler says. ‘There isn’t much else that needs to be done from our side.’
‘Dante is enabled on the microphones and the lecterns have six or seven different positions where you can possibly plug the lectern in, which meant that we could do it over the University network, and wherever we plugged it in, it would just work,’ Saville continues. ‘If it was a traditional system, we wouldn’t have had that ability.’
The benefit of the Shure systems at University of Bedfordshire now means that academics can provide students with an educational experience across a large educational environment, with the systems in place and configured to provide a unique, intimate setting, and offering an unobtrusive, natural sound.
‘The way the technology allows things to be configured in different ways is a real benefit of the Shure product,’ says Head of School, Computer Science and Technology, Dr Paul Sant. ‘It really has engaged the students; they’re switched on, more akin to asking questions.
‘There’s also far more lecture capture being used now. It offers an opportunity for everybody to have an excellent student experience, and to benefit from a high level of audio quality.’
More: www.shure.com
