Bournville College
2011 saw a landmark event in the history of Bournville College when it opened its brand new state-of-the-art campus. The new campus has capacity for 15,000 students and spans 4.2 acres of land, providing facilities that are among the best in the UK.
The Challenge
The new £66 million college campus was part of a £1 billion project in the redevelopment of Longbridge, after the collapse of the MG Rover works, with the campus featuring one main building along with a separate building used for administration. Its Learning Resource Centre, located at the very heart of the main college building, offers over 300 computers with the latest software, thousands of books on all subjects, e-learning materials and Internet access.
Bournville College envisioned a multimedia environment and the ICT infrastructure needed to support voice, data and video conferencing applications, and facilitate digital signage, wireless networking, a digital media suite (DMS) and building management system (BMS) operating access control, CCTV, lighting, heating and ventilation.
The Solution
In early stages of the development, the IT and networking team recognised the need for a high quality ICT infrastructure to serve those on campus. Taz Hussain, network manager at Bournville College, explains: “We knew that for the level of technology that the network infrastructure would have to serve, both now and in the future, it was imperative to get the specification and installation right first time. We were provided with the opportunity to install the best possible system while the campus was being built.”
Amillan was selected for the ICT infrastructure installation as the Solihull-based communications solutions integrator proved its experience, design and technical knowledge and, along with its competitive advantage, provided the best solution for Bournville College.
For students and staff, having a high performance ICT environment was a necessity, and in order to achieve this the college needed a future-proof ICT infrastructure seamlessly installed alongside the other building work, and to a specification that would last the new college for an extended period of time.
The Benefits
Bournville College is one of the flagship building projects in Birmingham, and another Midlands college ICT project for Amillan’s portfolio following its success with Walsall College and City College, Birmingham. Working closely with stakeholders on all its contracts, Amillan’s consultants and engineers ensured that the ICT infrastructure tied in seamlessly to the wider construction project through constant dialogue with designers. Project co-ordination during the delivery of the installation was a key element of Amillan’s service, ensuring the contract was delivered on time and to a high standard.
The Future
Amillan’s objective is to be a long-term business partner with its clients, believing that its role in any project does not end once the technology is installed, but continues as long as its client feels they need Amillan’s support. This approach was taken at Bournville College and resulted in close and on-going collaboration between the technical teams from Amillan, Darren Hill at LANBuilder and the college itself.