Reed Elsevier is a world leading publisher of information for professional users; it is an Anglo-Dutch company employing over 35,000 staff worldwide.
In January 2004 it moved its Corporate UK HQ from Victoria Street to its current location - 1-3 Strand.
The new offices take up the whole second floor of a magnificent building with interior opulence to match its prestigious location. Knight Frank managed the overall project to refurbish the offices and Area Squared Interior Design, the main contractor, was entrusted to deliver the feel of 'understated elegance' requested by Reed's board. Meanwhile Reed's own IT department took charge of the implementation of all IT and Audio visual facilities.
Reed had originally contracted SmartComm to install the AV facilities at their previous offices and had no hesitation in requesting them to help with the move. As Terry Dyer, IT Manager, explained, "We'd always had a high level of service from SmartComm, they'd been very responsive and had a good reputation around our company. It's always better to work with a company you already know and trust. We just gave SmartComm a rough brief of what we were trying to achieve and left the designs to them."
Reception
Crispin Davis, CEO of Reed Elsevier PLC, took a personal interest in the reception area design and it was his vision to incorporate four video screens, each promoting a different division of the group. The system used to realise this vision is elegant both in look and function. An individual film was made for each division and burnt to DVD. Each DVD plays in a continuous loop on a separate DVD player in the network room and its output is delivered to reception via the building's cat-6 network. The result is very effective as Terry confirms, "I think it looks fantastic and it certainly works - I can see people coming in from my office and they all go straight over to look at the video screens."
Boardroom
The boardroom really embodies the theme of 'understated elegance'. Its simple style is uncluttered and light with windows all along one side offering views onto Trafalgar Square. It was important to the board that the room incorporated the very best presentation facilities, but also retained its clean look in board meetings where the facilities are rarely used. The solution was provided by a SmartWall system which appears as a stylish wood-panelled wall when not in use and opens up to reveal two whiteboard/flipchart holders either side of a 60" Fujitsu plasma display. The screen, when switched on, using the wireless colour touch panel, produces crystal-clear, vibrant images from whichever source is selected, be it PC, DVD, visualiser or a TV channel.
Terry says that "the CEO was very impressed with the room. It is a real bonus to be able to hide away the AV equipment when it's not in use."
Video Conferencing
Prior to the office move, SmartComm de-installed a complete videoconferencing system from Reed's Victoria Street offices. They then re-installed the system in the new Strand Room. The Polycom system along with its 60-inch plasma display fits perfectly into the new surroundings, bringing those dialled into sharp view in truly life-sized proportions.
Distributed Video
It is important for many people in Reed, especially in the publicity department, to keep track of market trading news and so there was a requirement to distribute appropriate satellite channels to all meeting rooms and several private offices. To accommodate this, SmartComm installed a video distribution system amongst the many racks in the network room. The system comprises three digital satellite receivers each permanently programmed to an individual channel, the modulated outputs from these are fed (alongside the DVD channels for reception) into a Smart-e system which distributes them around the central cat-6 network and so makes them available at data points in every room. Several designated private offices are all now equipped with elegant, high-resolution, MacPherson LCD displays each of which can be switched between the three nominated channels and a local DVD/VHS player.
Terry has plenty of praise for the way the project was undertaken, "The project had a very tight turnaround and SmartComm proved very good at engaging with and calmly working around others who were in headless chicken mode. Chris, their project manager, was extremely patient and totally focused on getting the job done. At the end of the project we were very pleased with the quality of SmartComm's work and the way they went about it, everything was done diligently and they never left a mess."
As for on-going support, Terry adds, "they provided good hand-over sessions to all of us in IT support and have been very responsive to our minor teething problems. We are now in the process of signing them up to a three-year maintenance contract."
