The Eastern Colleges Group set to launch cutting-edge extended reality lab for students

The Eastern Colleges Group have secured £2 million funding from the Office for Students (OfS) to create a world leading Extended Reality (XR) facility, encompassing Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality technologies for students across the East of England.

Set to launch at the start of the next academic year, the XR Lab will be a purpose-built facility bringing together a whole suite of the very latest XR technologies, to drive innovation across college programmes in close collaboration with industry partners - creating new opportunities for all students.

The XR Lab will provide students with access to next-generation XR facilities and will utilise innovative teaching and learning methods ensuring students are at the forefront of this emerging area and prepared for growing business needs - in line with the predicted job growth across all industry sectors.

Dr Nikos Savvas, Chief Executive of Eastern Colleges Group said: “This is an incredibly exciting time for us as educators. We are looking to be the leading institution for Extended Reality education and neuro-diverse talent development for industry across post 16 education within the UK. This ambitious project will give students exceptional opportunities and will also offer businesses unique opportunities in training and collaboration.”

The Award-winning UK-based architectural practice Windsor Patania Architects are developing the design of the facility, implementing the most innovative design solutions. Ryan Windsor, Development Director and Co-Founder said: “At Windsor Patania, we’re keen to integrate cutting-edge technology like this into our architectural services. Fascinated by the technology, our team was thrilled to earn the opportunity to help deliver the XR Lab vision.”

Phase one of the building works will see the 300m2 facility incorporate remote access into each of the rooms, including a fully immersive lecture theatre with wall-to-wall screens, immersive sound, video and motion capture studios all equipped with state-of-the-art resources.

This fully immersive facility will enable Eastern Colleges Group to run a “Hub and Spoke” teaching and learning facility, allowing students in remote locations to become fully immersed with their colleagues and teachers while remaining close to home, taking remote classroom to the next level. This facility will also enable industry partners to run training in a similar fashion, bringing advanced technology closer to the entire community.

For businesses interested in an exploratory conversation around the XR Lab and the opportunities available for industry, please contact Project Lead Mike Whittingham on mike.whittingham@wsc.ac.uk