University of Manchester

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J&C Joel played a major role in the refurbishment of ten lecture theatres at the University of Manchester – installing 71 motorised acoustic/blackout blinds within buildings in the university’s city centre campus.

The blinds were designed to be discreet while effectively reducing sound reverberation and the amount of daylight entering the rooms. The units’ protective housing was manufactured to be as small as possible and is powder coated, along with the fabric side guides, to match the walls of the lecture theatres.

The roller blinds are operated via a single-phase tubular motor unit located within a ball raced roller that holds the fabric in place. The motor unit has built in travel limits and the system is operated using a simple hand held control.

The key to the units is the Bonded Wool Serge fabric used. The client requested a fabric which would block light coming in through the windows when video projection equipment is in use while also reducing sound reverberation in the rooms. For this purpose J&C Joel manufactured the roller blind using bonded wool serge consisting of green Chromakey Wool Serge (WS019) bonded to a backing of Super Wool Serge (WS001).

Bonded Wool Serge consists of two layers of wool serge specially bonded together to create a fabric ideal for all roller banner and blind systems. The weight of the fabric is dependent on the combination of wool serge used. It has excellent anechoic qualities and effectively reduces sound reverberation.