The University of Manchester Engineering Campus Development – MECD in England required expansive research, learning and meeting spaces for more than 8,000 engineering and science students. Two new multi-story structures were built and linked to the existing Oddfellows Hall, next to the other two engineering buildings. Rooms were designed to be flexible with specialized learning spaces such as collaborative, blended-use, divisible and student workshops. Pure Audio Visual Ltd. worked closely with the university IT/AV team to design and integrate products from Extron, including professional-grade AV matrix switchers and DSP audio and control systems. An Extron NAV Pro AV-over-IP system knits each room to the other MECD rooms and buildings. The installation is remotely monitored and can be managed using the university’s standardized resource management system, Extron’s GlobalViewer Enterprise.

“We can send a source from any room to any other room in the complex,” said Trevor Byrne, head of media services at the University of Manchester. “The NAV Pro system turns the entire MECD complex into one enormous flexible learning space.”

Pure AV worked in parallel with the general contractor and the related construction trades. Each zone was completed, commissioned and signed off in accordance with the contractor’s BIM360 process prior to submission to the university administration for client sign-off. The Extron said its AV switching, distribution and control systems, linked by the NAV Pro AV-over-IP system and remotely managed via GlobalViewer Enterprise, offered the flexibility, performance and scalability that the university required for reliable delivery to and from each connected room on campus. MECD’s AV systems meet student, staff and administrative expectations now and into the future.

To read the University of Manchester ECD case study, click here.