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Edinburghs Telford College

Please Note: The College is now known as Granton Campus, part of Edinburgh College 

 

Background

 

The building is a new build on a new site.  The building opened in summer 2006.  From start to finish the project took 5 years (2001-2006).  12-18 months was spent on raising the funds.

 

Case Study tags: learning spaces, edinburgh's telford college, edinburgh collegescotland, new build, further education

 

Type of Project:

New build on new site.

 

Start and End dates:

 

The building opened in summer 2006. From start to finish the project took 5 years (2001-2006). 12-18 months was spent on raising the funds.

 

Context

 

The college was previously on 4 sites that were in a poor state of repair and no longer fit for purpose. Although the buildings offered more space than the college actually needed the design was inflexible. Trying to do anything innovative in the space was literally banging your head off a brick wall!

 

The College also wanted to encourage wider community involvement and use. The new campus is on a brownfield site in a waterfront location that is current undergoing redevelopment including new retail facilities, landscaping and a cycle path.

 

A major factor was also the desire to make better use of ICLT such that it was pervasive in all subject areas. The Principal made a declaration that there would be 'no hiding place' from ICLT.

 

The development is a full new campus for provision covering a wide range of curriculum areas.

The building is shaped like a pair of trousers with 'Learning Streets' down each leg and a 'Hub' at the centre.

The building is 'not just a college' it is very much a community building. Local people are encouraged to come to Telford, walk in to the Hub and eat there and have hair and beauty treatments etc.

 

The Hub is a food court for student and public use based on the design of those in shopping malls. It also provides a one-stop-shop for a range of student services. Artwork features prominently in the space and it can be used for performances and exhibitions.

 

The 'Learning Streets' are hybrid spaces where students can work together in informal groups, use PCs or laptops and arrange seating to meet their needs. Eating and drinking is not allowed but water coolers are provided.

Traditional classrooms are accessed directly off the streets and there are breakout areas directly outside the classrooms. The college also has linked IT labs separated by a wall of windows. This means that one tutor can supervise student groups doing different activities.

 

Flexible working by staff as well as students is encouraged. One desk is provided for every two staff so staff have to 'Hot Desk'. A few staff who spend more than 80% of their time at their desk have their own fixed desk. Not even the Principal has an office. Staff have 2m2 of storage space each and the college operates a clear desk policy.

A booking system for desks was introduced but hasn't been needed. The desks are used in tandem with working from home, etc. Laptops are widely used and some desks are 'touchdown' stations for laptop users rather than having a fixed PC.

 

There is an extensive staff social area with free tea and coffee and a range of types of seating. Drinking at desks is not permitted so staff are encourage to mix in the social space. Contractors clean and restock the areas throughout the day. The space is also used for informal meetings. Concerns were originally raised about confidentiality in open plan spaces so some bookable meeting rooms were provided but these are not heavily used.

The idea was to design a technology-rich building that was flexible and future-proof.

 

 

The College also wanted to encourage wider community involvement and use and the design of the building, in particular how many entrances it had, was important in bringing communities together.

Business processes are 'wrapped around everything' and the college used the new build as an opportunity to make significant changes to business processes. Since the move it has initiated a project to look at all of its corporate systems and to map the information lifecycle across all processes with a view to reducing the number of databases and the use of paper.

 

 

It was designed as a 'green' building with natural ventilation and next to no air conditioning. Green IT solutions are used wherever possible e.g. servers.

 

The approach to sustainability included planning IT replacement at an early stage. The College took the approach of standardising all of its IT equipment when it moved as there are clear user benefits in having the same equipment in all rooms and the College considered its replacement cycle right from the outset. It estimated the lifespan of the various components as:

 

  • 2 years laptops
  • 3 years desktop machines
  • 4 years servers
  • 5 years voice and data communications
  • 10 years wiring/infrastructure etc

 

In planning for financial sustainability the College knows exactly when the spend will occur. All end user equipment is leased. Servers and infrastructure were initially funded from capital funds although servers will also be leased on renewal. The College has found this to be the most effective option as the leasing company can reclaim VAT which means that they are paying 82-90p in the pound over the lifespan of the equipment.

 

There are numerous logistical issues to be addressed when it is time for replacement. The College has 1,250 items of end user equipment and the original installation took 8 weeks to roll out in the new building. In the live situation there are however only 6 weeks between the end of one academic year and the beginning of the next. Various options are being considered including rollout at 50% per year over 2 years or using both the Easter and Summer breaks.

 

 

Finance

 

Funding Sources

 

Funding from a number of sources including: proceeds of the sale of the previous college site; Scottish Funding Council; loan; College's own resources.

 

Funding breakdown - Sale of land £26m; SFC £21m; loan £10m; own funds £10m. Money from the funding body was given on the understanding that it would be based on efficiency - reducing the footprint by 30%.

 

Cost of Project

 

Total c.£70 million. IT investment has been just over £5 million.

 

 

Technology

 

A technology-rich space was envisaged from the start. The college has been built with wireless throughout and suspended floors everywhere, not just in currently designated IT areas, so that flexibility and adaptability is built in. This also makes economic sense as it costs 4-5 times more to retro-fit cabling once a building is complete.

The approach was not to take on anything that wasn't being used elsewhere. This did not mean they restricted themselves to technologies in use in education so long as they could visit and see the technology in use. They chose suppliers for whom this was a small or medium project.

 

Some of the technology was introduced while they were in the old buildings so that staff could get used to it.

The college has opted for wireless for voice and data and also has a guest network (run over the voice network). Roaming is seamless and there is no 'stutter' etc with voice. Fibre channels are used for fast systems e.g. Finance, HR, Student System, etc while other systems use serial.

 

'Resilience not redundancy' is the policy with regard to hardware. Everything works in parallel to cover any failures. They use split multi-layered trunking with 2 different IP addresses that look the same throughout the network. Security is paramount at both network and user levels. Every classroom is equipped with the same technology so staff do not have to grapple with a range of different end user tools. All classrooms have Interactive Whiteboards.

 

Apple and Microsoft technologies are working together and both are available to students in the Learning Streets.

Laptops are widely used as flexible working is encouraged. There are designated secure lockers for staff to store and charge laptops and touchdown desks for short term use.

 

Convergence of staff areas has enabled the college to make savings by introducing a managed 'just-in-time' print service that has increased throughput by 50%. HR and Finance still have their own printers for reasons of confidentiality.

 

There is access control in staff areas and in beauty therapy areas (for privacy) and cooking and other hazardous areas (for health and safety). The cost benefit of having access control throughout the whole college was deemed to be not worth the investment.

 

The whole building is controlled by a Building Management System including light switches and light sensing shutters on external windows.

 

Adding Value

 

Technology is now pervasive in all curriculum areas. Every learning area is equipped in the same way with identical IT equipment, AV equipment, Interactive Whiteboard etc so that staff are familiar with the kit. The equipment is all controlled via a panel on the desk (remote controls tend to go missing). Less time is wasted in setting things up and having to adapt to quirks in particular pieces of equipment.

 

The technology has introduced uniformity and flexibility.

 

Less paper is used in business processes and in teaching. Tutors are using more digital resources and re-using resources cutting down on duplication of similar materials e.g. basic maths across different areas of the curriculum. The College is at full capacity as regards students on site but it now has the capacity to expand via more flexible forms of delivery including evenings and weekends and via distance learning. 'Technology doesn't stop at the walls'.

 

 

Success Factors

 

What Makes The Space Successful?

 

The design of Telford College building allows users within it to conduct business quickly and spontaneously - they don't have to get bogged down in diaries and bookings, etc as space is very flexible. The open plan design in the staff area means that managers and staff see each other on daily basis which is a great boon for communication.

Built in flexibility and technology easily allows change of use of rooms. Breakout areas next to classrooms allow for a wider range of learning activities.

The social Hub area brings services directly to students.

Staff buy-in has been key and the importance of this was recognised early on. 'Champions' were involved in all areas to help with the transition.

Students see the building as theirs and there is no vandalism.

The College took the risk of improving the quality of catering and hence increasing the price. This has proven very popular and current daily takings equal the former weekly takings.

Members of the local community are using the facilities and feel a sense of ownership of the college.

 

What Is Innovative About The Design And The Use Of The Space?

 

The design is innovative in its flexibility and the pervasiveness of technology.

 

The Learning Streets with their hybrid IT/non IT areas and mix of traditional classrooms and breakout space permit new types of learning activity. The flexible approach to staff working including hot desking and home working is unusual in the sector.

 

Walls on stairwells and some other areas have not been painted - thus saving money

on maintenance and re-painting, this also reduces the amount of time people spend socialising in the areas, therefore reducing potential acts of vandalism.

 

Top Tips

 

Share the burden by using third party to support wherever practically possible.

 

Use the correct people in the correct roles in order to ensure project success. A Clerk of Works, and an IT Project Manager should be full time and employed by the College so that you hold the purse strings. That ownership is vital.

 

Think through ICLT in advance so that it can be fully integrated in the architect's plans.

 

Opt for 'Resilience, not redundancy' when it comes to the provision of IT equipment.

 

Maintain a Risk Register and have contingency plans for all major risks. Keep good documentation especially with regard to procurement decisions and consider what may be needed for FOI requests.

 

Set up of core functions in the new building involved the moving of legacy systems. This was done with help from JISC and negotiation with Edinburgh University. The college was temporarily granted two JANET connections to enable the systems migration to work seamlessly The scenario was risky but it worked.

 

Lessons Learned

 

A minor but significant detail is that the plans for the staff areas omitted places to hang coats so moveable coat rails had to be bought.

 

Post Occupancy: Changes Made As A Result Of Feedback

 

At the time of the case study visit the space had only recently opened and was still bedding in.

 

There had been concerns that there may be congestion due to the reduction in space but this has not been a problem.

 

Contact Details

 

Ray Harris, Principal, ray.harris@ed-coll.ac.uk
Michael Turpie, Associate Principal Information Services, Michael.Turpie@ed-coll.ac.uk

 

Case study written November 2006.