University of Sheffield, Information Commons
| Contact Details: | Martin Lewis, Director of Library Services & University Librarian, m.j.lewis@sheffield.ac.uk Dr Christine Sexton, Director of Corporate Information and Computing Services, c.sexton@shef.ac.uk Alex Hunt, Information Commons Manager, a.hunt@shef.ac.uk |
| Type of Project: | New build. |
| Start/End Date: | Initial ideas formed in 1998. Construction work began May 2005. Building opened Easter 2007. |
Lessons Learned
The procurement was a 2 stage design and build process - the initial phase had the architects working directly for the University. The second phase involved the architects working for contractors making communication between the clients and architects less informal. Dialogue about the building's detailed internal design (which mostly happened in the second phase) was not as comprehensive as for the exterior and general interior spaces. The two-stage process delivered good cost control but was less satisfactory from the viewpoint of client/architect communication. But generally the engagement of the architects was reported as outstanding, with a real commitment to deliver a successful building in operational as well as design terms.
As noted above the time between handover of the building and its opening was very short - a few days. There have been some teething issues as a result. The provision of power has been an issue. The original aspiration had been to have power available near to all soft seating units in the form of in-floor power boxes. However the in-floor boxes that have been installed do not have easy access to the power sockets. They are of the circular cover type and are difficult to open. Insufficient service power sockets (for cleaning appliances) have been installed and cleaners have reverted to using power supplied through the floor boxes which results in fuse failure and power outages. Some retrospective work is being carried out to improve this issue.
The long opening hours and reduced staffing levels over large chunks of those times has resulted in some issues regarding the tidiness of the space. As mentioned previously this is being tackled by the provision of more regular cleaning activity and the encouragement of users to tidy up after them.
There are also issues about the shelving of the books in the building. The books are RFID tagged and loanable copies can be self-issued and self-returned. Students tend to leave books that they have used lying around on desks rather than replacing them on trolleys as requested. This makes shelving a more onerous task as staff have to collect the books first. The robotic sorter is now being used to sort unissued books for reshelving and additional shelving staff have been deployed.
