THE CLIENT

The Co-op Group has its origins in the co-operative consumer societies started by the Rochdale Pioneers. In 1863, independent co-op societies formed The Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS). They provided Co-op products to sell in hundreds of Co-op stores. Over the next century, CWS went through many changes and eventually became The Co-operative Group.

THE CHALLENGE

Co-op wanted to design and implement a high-end solution for the new Co-op HQ Building that allowed staff to be able to utilise the various input points in the state of the art foodology section. The heart of the Foodology area is The Kitchen, a large demonstration zone where chefs showcase the latest products, offer cooking lessons and deliver food presentations with perfectly positioned cameras and AV technology for this to be live-streamed into meeting rooms and the Atrium. 

The client was constrained by budget limitations but still needed to have the most accessible and well made technology installed. One Angel Square was declared the most environmentally-friendly building in the world in November 2013, and naturally UXG had to ensure that the proposed solution conformed to the environmental constraints setup by the Co-op.

THE SOLUTION

UXG installed various amounts of equipment including a separate network to the Co-op corporate network with cameras to show the celebrity chefs cooking at various angles. We also installed screens into the kitchen canopy and a 2 x2 video wall. The video feed was sent to screens and a presentation solution installed in the meeting rooms and atrium to allow as many viewers  as possible. UXG also installed a full audio system in the main room to ensure that the audio was of utmost quality in line with the incoming streamed media. For the backend solution we utilised a matrix system which allows the system to be controlled by a tablet device and users can output to any device on the system.

SUCCESS

The installation was a success and installed to budget and timescales and met all of the clients requirements. Since the installation Co-op have approached UXG to extend the current solution to allow live streaming to Facebook and Instagram.