Bookcases

Description

The Library comprises of 3 physical sections: the original George Edwards (GE) building, the 1980 Mullens (M) extension and the 2011 Learning Centre (LC) extension. Stock is currently dispersed over 3 floors of the Library. The current refurbishment project is focussed on Levels 4 and 5 of the GE section of the building and on Levels 2, 4 and 5 of the M section. (AutoCAD files for the floors are attached to the tender, the George Edwards space is to the left — West — aspect of the building leading into the Mullens section). Shelving is required for each of these areas, but with a greater concentration likely to be in the GE area. The Library is facing a significant challenge in ensuring that we continue to provide immediate and easy access to high-quality library collections while providing more study spaces for our students. In the academic year 15/16 we refurbished a third of one floor and replaced old shelving units with a mix of static and mobile/compressed shelving. This allowed us to create a good number of study spaces and has provided a blue-print for further refurbishment work across the building. Please be aware that floor loading constraints in the GE section of the building permit a maximum of 72 bays of 1 metre shelving to be located within each of the grids defined by the supporting pillars. The first phase of the project (i.e. scheduled for Summer 2017) will focus on Levels 4 and 5 of the George Edwards (GE) section of the building and will require the installation of c 3 200 metres of shelving, in a combination of mobile and static runs, by mid-September. It is possible that this Summer 2017 installation will itself need to be scheduled in two phases (i.e. with one of the Levels being completed earlier in the Summer (i.e. early August) but this is subject to the finalisation of the building plans. The second phase of the project (i.e. provisionally scheduled for Summer 2018) will focus on Levels 2,4, and 5 of the Mullens section of the building and will require the installation of c.3 000 metres of shelving again in a combination of mobile and static runs. Statistics: The Library currently provides c 10 000 linear metres of shelving across all floors. With the planned refurbishment c 1 500 metres of shelving (installed in LC extension in 2011) and 800 metres (installed in the GE Level 2 in 2016 ) will remain unchanged. However, with the planned reduction in stock, our intention is to reduce the total length of shelving to c 8 500 metres. Our requirement is therefore for 6 200 metres of shelving, comprising a combination of static and mobile. It is likely that the solution will comprise c 3 800 of mobile shelving and 2 400 of static shelving, but this balance may change as a consequence of the detailed design phase. We have no requirement for shelving to accommodate oversize or multimedia materials. However we are looking to standardise our shelving and would expect any plans/costings to use the following outlines for the tender: — All shelves to be no longer than 970 mm; — There are some fixed pillers in the Library, we will accept shorter shelves in spaces to allow maximum space utilisation, these should be no shorter than 790 mm; — There should be no more than 6 shelves in any bay; — All static units should be considered future ‘mobile-friendly’ and so the height of any end panel should take into consideration the height restrictions of the space and allow for ‘mounting’ on the raised platform bases of your mobile solutions.