Project Overview
During the summer of 2023, Pacific successfully delivered a comprehensive AV fit-out for University College London’s (UCL) new state-of-the-art Marshgate Building. This large-scale project, valued at over £2.2 million, encompassed the integration of audiovisual technology in 66 individual spaces, including six lecture theatres, 32 teaching rooms, four PC labs, various departmental spaces, and specialist labs. As the main teaching hub of UCL East, the Marshgate Building required a cutting-edge AV infrastructure to support innovative, flexible, and collaborative learning environments.
Awarded the contract in December 2022, Pacific meticulously planned and executed the AV installation, ensuring completion in time for the start of the academic year in September 2023. Working in close collaboration with UCL’s AV Design Team and the main contractor, MACE, Pacific played a crucial role in delivering a future-ready educational environment that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between students, researchers, academics, and the public.
Planning and Coordination
From the outset, Pacific engaged in extensive planning to align our installation schedule with the broader construction and M&E (Mechanical & Electrical) works overseen by MACE and their subcontractors. Given the scale and complexity of the project, maintaining flexibility was paramount, and Pacific adopted an agile approach to mitigate potential construction delays.
The AV fit-out was executed in a structured three-phase timeline:
- Pre-works and First Fix (February 2023): Conducted detailed site visits to verify all AV M&E elements against design specifications, ensuring correct cabling and containment placement.
- Second Fix (April–Summer 2023): Major AV equipment installations, including projectors, displays, speakers, and control systems.
- Testing, Commissioning, and Training (August 2023): Ensured full system functionality, compliance with UCL’s AV standards, and provided hands-on training for end-users.
This structured approach allowed Pacific to proactively identify and mitigate risks, keeping the project on track and ensuring a seamless installation process.
Installation Approach
To deliver the project efficiently, Pacific deployed five dedicated two-engineer teams, carrying out installations in a phased manner. This approach allowed for immediate testing and commissioning upon the completion of each room, minimising potential delays and ensuring that any snags were addressed early.
Key AV system integration aspects included:
- Lecture Theatres: Outfitted with dual-projection systems, ceiling-mounted microphones, PTZ cameras for lecture capture, and Crestron control panels.
- Teaching Rooms: Standardised AV setups featuring interactive projection, networked lecture capture, and intuitive user interfaces to enhance instructional delivery.
- PC Labs: AV-over-IP solutions facilitating collaboration, enabling screen sharing, and allowing instructors to control multiple devices effortlessly.
- Specialist Labs & Collaborative Spaces: Designed to support Technology Enhanced Active Learning (TEAL), integrating multiple interactive displays and flexible furniture arrangements to foster student engagement.
- Meeting and Breakout Spaces: Fully AV-enabled for hybrid meetings, equipped with advanced conferencing setups and digital signage to streamline communication across UCL’s academic community.
Overcoming Challenges
Pacific encountered several challenges throughout the project and effectively implemented solutions to ensure successful delivery:
- Product Availability & Procurement: Global supply chain disruptions necessitated swift decision-making. By leveraging strong supplier relationships and sourcing alternative equipment that met UCL’s stringent specifications, Pacific prevented delays while maintaining high system functionality.
- On-Site Adjustments: Unexpected modifications to M&E infrastructure required real-time adaptability. Pacific collaborated closely with MACE and electrical contractor Dornan to dynamically address these issues without affecting the overall timeline.
- Tight Schedule: Given the strict deadline, Pacific strategically deployed additional resources at critical project junctures. A phased approach to installation and testing minimised risks associated with last-minute overruns, ensuring an on-time completion.
Outcome and Impact
The AV fit-out of the Marshgate Building was successfully delivered on time and to UCL’s rigorous standards. The integration of cutting-edge AV technologies has significantly enhanced the learning and teaching experience for students and faculty alike.
At the project’s conclusion, Pacific facilitated a comprehensive three-day training program for UCL’s AV technicians and end-users, ensuring seamless operation of all installed systems. Additionally, Pacific provided detailed Operation & Maintenance (O&M) manuals and user-friendly help sheets tailored to each room.
Since the completion of this landmark project, Pacific has continued to support UCL with additional AV installations across its campuses, reinforcing a strong and ongoing partnership with the university.
Conclusion
The Marshgate Building AV project is a testament to Pacific’s expertise in delivering large-scale, high-value AV solutions in complex educational environments. By leveraging our technical proficiency, adaptability, and collaborative approach, Pacific successfully met UCL’s AV requirements, setting a benchmark for future new-build AV projects in higher education.
Client Testimonial
“UCL East represents a huge real Estate Investment for UCL, and Marshgate is one of the largest teaching, practice, laboratory, and mixed-use buildings we have, and it represents a different way of working at UCL. I was working on this project for over five years since joining UCL in 2019, so Marshgate had to be a successful project, delivered in good time to an excellent standard. As the AV community knows, the Covid Pandemic had a huge impact on manufacturing and the availability of hardware globally and the UCL East project was impacted by these delays. From Pacific being appointed to the project, they immediately started working with us, as quickly as possible to mitigate these delays and find alternative equipment where required against a changing picture of global availability. The account management and ordering were progressed as quickly as possible, and throughout the process Pacific were flexible, communicative, and helpful with offering alternatives, based on system designs and functionality, to ensure functional requirements were met.
“During installation, in a building of this size, with 32 teaching spaces, around 40+ meeting rooms, plus a variety of lab and departmentally focused spaces to deliver, Pacific’s installation team remained calm, worked flexibility and were communicative throughout the three plus month installation window. As a delivery focused client, what I really appreciated was – if for some reason Pacific’s team could not progress work as planned in one space, they would proactively move to another room to carry on working and communicate clearly, helpfully, and percipiently to allow issues to be resolved so that no time on site was lost.
The installation project manager was on site frequently and between the account manager and the project manager, plans would be regularly updated and any blockers fed back with suggestions for resolution. We even had to re-design the AV provision for a lab space, due to user requirements changing in July and deliver this for September teaching! When some spaces inevitably hit issues, close to project deadlines, as can happen on a large complex site, Pacific responded by sending additional people to site and ensuring the job was completed in time.
Programming for spaces was designed based on UCL existing code, and to communicated functionality and requirements. Small tweaks and changes were not seen as a problem, and the more unusual code requirements were well designed, delivered in a collaborative fashion on site, and if end users made additional requests these were met with a helpful, understanding and flexible attitude. Nothing was too much trouble to ensure code was delivered within UCL’s standards, adapted to meet different room and user requirements, and delivered as fully functional for teaching in September.
Overall, Pacific were a huge part of delivering the Marshgate project at UCL and throughout some inevitably stressful times to meet the looming deadline of building opening, occupation and start of teaching, Pacific always worked as collaborative partners and were as focused as me, their client on ensuring all rooms were delivered within project deadlines, delivered as “right first time”, and that overall the project was delivered to deadline, to requirements and was a huge success.”
— Sheila Egan, ISD Customer Operations, UCL