From its beginnings in 1964, The University of Warwick has sought to be excellent
in both teaching and research. It has now secured its place as one of the
UK's leading research universities and has become increasingly popular with
students - there are now 9 applications for every available place at Warwick.
In December 2006 Qubiqa, (then known as Nordplan), tendered for the Library
Compact Mobile Storage at The University of Warwick and were very pleased to
be awarded this business. Since that time Qubiqa’s relationship with The University
of Warwick has grown and Qubiqa have supplied both Electronic and
Mechanical mobile storage for other areas (library and archive) within the University.
Library Shelving
Qubiqa’s SHADE E9000 Electronic shelving was chosen for the Library Resource
Centre on 2 floors of the library extension and installed in 2007 following
the initial tender for this business. These are open access areas for students
and the many features and benefits of the Qubiqa systems, especially
the 7 safety features, were of paramount importance when choosing Qubiqa to supply the shelving. The brushed silver finish was chosen as the optimum
colour to best complement the learning environment, along with integral lighting
(a truly green feature) where the light comes on only when the aisle is
opened.
In total there is over 5,750 linear metres of open access shelving. In one particular section Qubiqa have been able to utilise
existing microfilm cabinets mounted on electronic mobile bases, which has provided the University with a cost-effective storage
solution that is both aesthetically pleasing and easy to access.
Archive Shelving
Installed between 2007 and 2010, Qubiqa have supplied both the SHADE E9000 electronic and M9000 mechanical shelving
systems in the University of Warwick’s Archives. Mechanical shelving was chosen to store approx. 28,000 archival boxes with
integral lighting and pull out shelves, which was the most cost-effective solution in a deep archive environment. The E9000
system was chosen as the preferred solution for another archive area as the mobile units were up to 20m long. The University
of Warwick were keen to use Qubiqa following the success of the library shelving.
Looking to the future, the Qubiqa SHADE E9000 electronic shelving system was selected for the storage of over 12,070 linear
metres of archival material in an off-site repository. Our 2Tier system was installed initially at a single level as the optimum
solution to provide the best future expansion of the full height of the building. The Qubiqa 2Tier shelving system is a cost effective
method of storage for high level areas and it will be a simple task for Qubiqa to add the additional tier to this electronic
shelving when it is required.
