University of Birmingham Future-Proofs its Campus Learning Experience

The University of Birmingham is one of the UK’s largest universities with almost 30,000 students in attendance. As with many established universities, it faced the challenge of how to modernise its diverse estate to meet the contemporary learning-styles that have arisen in recent years. Student expectations around audiovisual technology have changed and the University of Birmingham’s LRAT / Libraries and Learning Resources in-house AV team worked with GVAV, its longstanding integration partner, to upgrade dated equipment over the Summer of 2025.  

Conceived as a campus-wide initiative to be carried out over the long-term, the university team initially sought to upgrade several key learning spaces which could quickly benefit from moving beyond the constraints of legacy equipment to create truly flexible, high-impact environments for both students and lecturers. 

“Some of our older rooms were saddled with dim, non-interactive projection systems and related connectivity issues,” says James Ball, LRAT – AV Designer and Project Lead. Lecturers had become reluctant to use the technology, and students could find the group-work experience frustrating. Our goal was simple: to improve the visual and learning experience for all. A big help in this respect was our use of a broad range of Avocor displays.”  

Avocor was deployed across several distinct teaching environments, each with a specific learning goal and technology configuration. SportEx LT1 is one of the university’s flagship lecture theatres and is used for large-scale lecturing, sports performance and biometric analysis. It also has the potential to be a revenue-generator once it is made available for commercial hire. However, the room suffered from a legacy Issue: it relied on a dual projection setup, which on occasions resulted in an image that was difficult to view clearly from the back rows of the large lecture theatre. To address this issue, as part of the AV upgrade, the room was fitted with an Avocor X Series DVLED display. 

The X Series was chosen specifically over a standard projector wall or LCD videowall for its superior brightness and contrast. This ensures content can be viewed effortlessly and clearly by every person in the room, even those seated at the very back. The high-resolution, high-contrast wall serves as a central focal point, displaying content with unparalleled visual clarity – for sports analysis work, clarity and zero latency are non-negotiable. The Avocor DVLED provided the brightness and the visual scale that simply couldn’t be achieved with a standard projection system, making it a truly immersive experience for our students. 

Opting for the X Series also provided a significant logistical advantage during the installation. Projection is notoriously expensive and time-consuming to install due to the requirement for specialist scaffolding. The X Series install was much quicker, delivered to site by Avocor, streamlining the process for GVAV. To maximise adoption, the system was designed for simplicity, and the control panel layouts are intuitively designed, ensuring lecturers can operate the powerful new system with minimal training. 

The project also completely redesigned key spaces Muirhead 112 (featuring 8 x 55″ K-Series displays) and Y3 G28 (with 5 x 55″ K-Series displays) to move away from traditional lecture-style seating. These rooms were re-envisioned as highly flexible “collaboration pods,” specifically tailored to facilitate and enhance small-group active learning. Students can connect their personal devices—laptops or tablets—to the Avocor K-Series 55″ displays enabling immediate collaboration. The system also provides the lecturer with effortless monitoring and control over all screens. This capability allows them to quickly share a central content source to all pods simultaneously. The K-Series was selected for its blend of performance and form factor to enable seamless group collaboration. 

In further teaching environments, Muirhead 109 and 118, the team implemented a dual-display configuration to support the dynamic requirements of hybrid teaching. A large 98″ K-Series display is expertly paired with a second, smaller 65″ K-Series screen. This setup dedicates the primary 98″ screen to displaying core teaching content, such as slides, digital whiteboards, or lecture materials. The secondary 65″ screen can mirror the content on the 98” screen or can be used independently for group work.  

The University of Birmingham’s campus-wide AV transformation stands as a testament to what can be achieved when an integrator partner like GVAV works in close partnership with the client team (LRAT), truly understanding their needs and aspirations. By leveraging Avocor’s versatile range of high-quality display solutions, each tailored to the unique requirements of specific learning environments, the project has delivered flexible, impactful spaces that empower both students and lecturers. This collaborative approach ensured every installation was not only technically robust but also aligned with the university’s vision for modern, engaging education. The result is a series of innovative learning spaces that exemplify best practice in AV integration, demonstrating that with the right partnership and technology, ambitious goals can be realized and lasting success achieved.