The University has invested £260m in a major campus development, which forms part of an intelligent buildings scheme involving multiple sites and buildings. The programme started in 2009 and is due for completion in 2017.
In September 2013 Phase 1 of the upgrade was finalised and more recently Phase 2 was completed in June last year. Further phases remain ongoing and involve the new Birmingham Conservatoire building and the planned expansion to the City South Campus. This will see the relocation of the School of Education and increase the institution’s health, nutrition and biomedical offerings.
Senior Project Manager at Birmingham City University Steven Hipwell has been instrumental in delivering the scheme and commented, “The University is always looking at ways to evolve more intelligently and re-think technology delivery across our physical estates. Converting standalone systems into fully integrated smart systems delivers significant benefits including reduced risk and costs.”
Under the smart building management system and security management system there are a number of subsystems which includes bms, CCTV, access control, intruder and lighting utilising open protocols. All security and life safety sub systems are managed through Datalog located within the City Centre Campus.
Steven Hipwell said of the systems “Technology is evolving at great pace and the challenge for the University is to align ourselves accordingly and maximise the performance of our buildings. This means bringing our systems together to provide greater transparency and accurate visibility across the enterprise. This allows us to offer targeted services to improve the students’ experience at the University.”
