Introduction
Oaklands
College in Hertfordshire is in the process of reinventing its approach to
teaching and learning with a new fully-integrated campus planned for occupation
in 2011. This
article describes the vision for the building and how it will transform the
learner experience. It also examines some of the challenges in the design
process and makes the point that it is really important that pedagogy should
provide the foundation for the whole design and that if the technology does not
produce better learning then there is no point.
College vision
The vision
for the College (Figure 1) is encapsulated within four strategic aims (Attraction,
Learner Experience, Success and Performance). A poor Ofsted report in 2003
meant that the institution resolved to embark on a journey to reach the ‘outstanding’
level by 2011. Technology and e-learning are deliberately separated entities in
the strategic hierarchy and the e-learning vision (Figure 2) puts pedagogy at
the centre. The College is currently challenged to build a sufficiently robust
infrastructure to cope with student demand. The new building will be fully
capable of delivering the vision for students to receive a better technology experience than at home creating bleeding edge learning, utilising leading
edge technology.
Building vision and innovation
The vision
intends to create a world class building
and more: innovative concepts are at the heart of the aim to craft a truly intelligent building with fully
integrated systems. Exemplary IT will support an attractive learner experience
in an educational and social space; glass walls will ensure a culture of openness
in the building; a staff 2:1 hot-desk ratio will be used - more recently dubbed
‘team-desking’ by the college. Interviews about the development can be found on
the YouTube intelligentBuilders channel.
Mark Dawe,
Oaklands College Principal, told the design team about the value he accorded to
Information and Communications Technology (ICT). He said, “If I have to cut
a wing off this building to make the IT learner experience exemplary, I will”.
Innovative design, ‘intelligence’ and pedagogy
The central
atrium will be the width of three tennis courts and will be designed to function
flexibly as a public area. The design (and its intelligence) makes the building more efficient and environmentally
friendly as well as enhancing the learning experience. For instance the use of plastic
ID cards with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and cashless
catering means that students will experience the inputs/outputs from the
systems; thus, when they go into the real
world, they will have been exposed to these new technologies. Similarly buildings
such as this are excellent at showing construction students correct approaches to
the design of a modern building. There are examples in every curriculum area of
where the intelligence of the building supplements, or improves, the learning
experience. High quality audio visual (AV) resources will be provided; plasma
TVs with overlays will be used in dirty and dusty areas. The College is also
experimenting with interactive tables where students (and the lecturer) gather
around the device, encouraging more active and collaborative interaction -
which will fundamentally change the pedagogy in the classroom/workshop. These
tables will also be deployed in curriculum learning clusters (CLCs). Another innovation
is recording practical activity, such as students undertaking a task in a
classroom or workshop. This can be used for immediate feedback, for later
analysis, for review, and later for access through the virtual learning
environment (VLE). This is not a security system, although the technology could
be used this way; it is deliberately pedagogic in focus and will be under the
control of the students and lecturers within the classroom or workshop. It uses
internet protocol television (IPTV) techniques and is currently being trialled
at the Alban Park facility.
Wireless
All of the
building will be covered by wireless networking. Every learner will have a laptop,
or similar device, and all students will be able to use their own devices if
they wish (releasing funding to provide better equipment for those who do not
wish, or cannot afford, to purchase their own). A purpose-built facility will allow
students to exchange their batteries when they need.
Physical design
The
building will consist of three wings. It will have a street effect at the front,
open to the public in the form of real life shops;
access will be made through dedicated entrances. All other access to the
building will be through the main entrance, into the atrium and then through a
CLC to each themed wing. Refectory and specialist learner services will be accommodated
in between the wings around the atrium. Architectural design movies can
be found at: www.oaklands.ac.uk/about/newbuild_movies.aspx. Curriculum area locations can
be changed in line with emerging business needs.


Views of the new college building
Images courtesy of Bond Bryan Architects
There will
be no learning resources centres (LRCs) in the new building. Instead there
exists the concept of CLCs, with much front-of-house activity taking place in
them. These will form a one-stop shop for the public as well as supporting
traditional learner and student services, reception, and facilitated access to
research and curriculum support. Information screens announce events but kiosk facilities will interact and give
information to customers and even elicit feedback by video.
The CLC
concept has been piloted at Welwyn Garden City with a former traditional
classroom being adapted. The modified room now has three logical zones within it:
- Non-traditional
teaching space with flexible tables and chairs and an electronic whiteboard.
- Boardroom
table (separated from the teaching space
area by low level glass screens) with interactive TV at the end.
- Social
space with low comfy chairs (in pink and black).
The room has
a wireless network with laptops being provided from a trolley facility.
Research is showing dramatic results. Staff identified that the space “transformed” the learning experience and
students said that they “want” to
learn in the CLC rather than “having”
to learn in other areas of the college. Students also said that they liked the
informal and bright colours which made the space very modern and appealing. (See Guardian article guardian.co.uk/digitalstudent). The second pilot (in orange and
green) is currently being implemented at Alban Park.
A cautionary tale - the design team experience
The
experience of working on a design team was “educational”. Achievement of an intelligent building requires a coherent
approach by consultants who need to work closely together. There are many
barriers to achieving this intelligent,
or smart, building. The building itself
needs to be accessible, safe and secure. It should be efficient in its
operation (i.e. with reduced running costs), highly flexible so that any part
of the building can deliver the requirements of the institution using physical and
electronic assets appropriately, and it must be (environmentally) green. The
common areas need to be useable in different ways, and communication facilities
should let the customer know what they need to know at the time they need to
know it. Effective use of space must be achieved so that it is shared where
appropriate, yet facilitating privacy when required. For the users this
building must encourage learning to take place in a comfortable and empowering
space. It should be innovative and inspiring so that it is a productive place
for all. The building needs to be capable of being in control of itself reducing
the requirement for large numbers of ancillary staff to operate it. All of this
is indeed possible using technology but only if there is a robust supporting
infrastructure. Designing that infrastructure in the early planning stages is
absolutely essential.
The key adjective
for design teams is ‘collaborative’. Unfortunately colleges report the opposite
with the danger of not achieving the vision if key issues are left unaddressed.
Phrases such as “It is not the way we do it” have been said too many times by
those who should know better. It has been noted that consultants are at ease designing what they are comfortable with and builders will build what they know.
Innovation is risk (and therefore cost) so to create an integrated intelligent building works against
existing silo mentalities and structures defended by the status quo. The system
prevents the achievement of an integrated vision.
The
traditional way that a building is built and the way that it is planned can cause
serious problems. Innovative concepts such as intelligent buildings are very different
and require different ways of working. What it means is that anyone trying to
do this is working against existing structures and processes. Each body has a
set of rules; architects, mechanical and electrical consultants and other
specialists are working to different agendas. They all try to defend their own
status quo but to succeed they must learn to work together for the agenda to be
realised. This is not easy!
Traditional
buildings implement different systems on different infrastructures e.g. security,
AV, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), data, phones and so forth,
creating massive duplication. However, all of this is now implementable using
IP (Internet Protocol) over a common infrastructure. In many cases this creates
capital cost savings as duplicate wiring can be eradicated. Equally business
gains can be made by converged technology making things easier to operate (e.g.
security, video, phone messaging, email, registration, data all from the
desktop with some automated, some not, as required), freeing valuable time to
dedicate to supporting students.
Lessons learned so far
Planning
for a new intelligent building
requires a joined up approach that puts integrated infrastructure at the fore.
It is therefore necessary to guarantee that planning is started early enough to
ensure that the cost savings can be realised (leaving it later not only
prevents cost savings from taking place but actually increases cost). To do
this properly it needs to take place during the Application in Principle (AiP)
phase. This roughly coincides with Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)
stage B. Engaging a competent ICT consultant at this stage is essential. Doing
this at stage D or even worse stage E is too late but that is exactly what has
happened on many new builds.
Unfortunately
it has been proved that if ICT consultants are not appointed early enough in
the process, decisions have already been taken (by architects, mechanical and
electrical consultants, engineers etc) that do not take into account ICT
infrastructure needs. For example a decision very early on that an institution
would not have raised floors (these are said to be more expensive) caused extra cost overall because of the extra need for ducting to accommodate
the volume of cabling required. Another institution reported that vertical
ducts were not big enough to accommodate the cables required; again an example
of where ICT was left out of the planning process creating an extra cost to
rectify the problem. The large amount of AV also causes another issue as the
weight of 65” plasma screens was heavier than some walls could withstand. The
cost plan is based upon the Learning and Skills Council(LSC) guidance. Unfortunately the original LSC
cost plans were outdated and did not include appropriate mechanisms for ICT
infrastructure. They have since been revised and are fitter for purpose than
they were. Many colleges were constantly fighting against a status quo because
the planning of the infrastructure came too late.
The LSC and
RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) held a conference at the RIBA headquarters in April 2008 to launch a forum
to help colleges, consultants and interested parties struggling with these
sorts of issues. In response to a question underlining the colossal potential
waste of money that poor planning was causing for college buildings, Philip Head, Director of Infrastructure and
Property Services, undertook to review the
LSC advice in this vital area and to consider advising colleges to plan their
ICT infrastructure earlier and to engage ICT consultants at stage B. This is a good example of where the LSC has really tried to
take into account the needs of the sector; training for project sponsors is
another. To aid this process there is now a framework agreement mechanism in
place to ensure that value for money is achieved in engaging suitable
consultancies for projects. However, while ICT is mentioned within the scheme,
some of the consultancies listed in the framework do not appear to have
previous experience in designing intelligent buildings. At a recent sponsors’
event Mark Jaloszynski, the LSC framework manager acknowledged this and advised
that institutions should ask specific ICT infrastructure questions in the
selection process of consultants to ensure that they engage suitable expertise.
He also said that the process allows for engagement of such specialist
expertise outside the framework if the skills required were not available
within. However the default position of any college should be to approach the
framework for design services in the first instance. Organisations should err
on the side of caution in this respect as engaging inexperienced design
consultants in the area of ICT (albeit part of the framework) could be a very
expensive mistake indeed. Institutions should ensure that the scope of service
includes ICT/intelligent building elements as it is essential that the ICT
infrastructure and intelligence is included in the main contract and not
separately as an add-on. All of the risk then is taken on by the institution
rather than by the consultancies being employed to do the job.
So if there was one thing…
Do not to
leave the intelligent part of the
building planning process too late. If you plan early enough you can make
savings (on both running and capital costs); if you leave it too late there will be significant costs (construction costs and extra running costs over a considerable number of years).
Address the ICT consultancy issue at
stage B by employing an ICT consultant, if the framework designer you have
employed does not have the competence. If you are about to employ, or
interview, possible designers from the framework make sure your intelligent
building/ICT plans are included in your brief, and
only employ a designer from the framework who can exhibit competence in this
vital area.
Useful links
Many principals and project sponsors contribute to a
JISCMail Building a better future sponsors’
list. This is a forum designed to help principals and project sponsors of new
builds, from both HE and FE, to collaborate and share expertise. Email build-sponsors-request@jiscmail.ac.uk
to join.
The RIBA Learning and Skills Client Forum also exists to help colleges
through the process. More details can be found at: www.architecture.com/UseAnArchitect/PublicBuildings/FurtherEducationClientForum/
Richard Everett
E-learning and new build consultant
richard.everett01@ntlworld.com
The Old Coach House, r/o 9 High Street,
Old Town, Stevenage, SG1 3BG
01438 215 447