Case studies

Rachel House, Kinross - bringing home cinema to children and young people with short lives (8/2/2012)

By Ian Morrish, Together for Short Lives

Rachel House is located in Kinross, Scotland and is one of the two Children's Hospices in Scotland run by Children's Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) that is a member of Together for Short Lives.

At the beginning of 2011 we had already generated some PR nationally about the work the AV industry is doing in trying to bring the joy of home cinema to children with short lives. Then, following further PR from Children's Hospices UK (as they were known then) to their members in August 2011, I received a phone call from Rachel House. They explained what they were looking to achieve, and that they had already been quoted for their install.

Most of the children that use Rachel House are housebound, so to have a proper home entertainment system really makes a difference to them. I felt that we might be able to help Rachel House save some serious amounts of money, but for this, I needed an installer that I could trust to go and visit them.

I met Allan Boyd from Loud & Clear many years ago when I helped him to publish the show guide for the Scottish Hi-Fi show that he organised. A good contact, a good installer and a good person, I contacted him and his response was immediate and very positive. Following a comprehensive meeting in mid-September, Allan agreed to take on the install.

Derek of Rachel House, Robert Watson (resident), Allan Boyd and Ian Morrish in front of the home cinema screen.

The original brief was for a multi-functional room for young adults visiting the centre for respite care. The idea was to create the ultimate high-tech recreation room that could be operated by the youngsters themselves, not just the staff. Further information on how the room might be used was sought from the care team, and a visit was arranged by some of the young adults from Rachel House to Loud & Clear's Glasgow showroom for some hands-on product evaluation.

It was understood that due to various deadlines it would not be possible for us to generate all of the equipment and services free of any charge, but we agreed to do what we could. A very comprehensive kit list was subsequently submitted on the 20th September and Allan and I set about trying to pull things together.

Planning

The system was going to be heavily used, so we needed to specify a system that would operate 24/7. The system also needed to be controllable by young adults of differing abilities. Many of them have limited mobility and need various aids such as the jelly mouse - a big plastic jelly-shaped object that sits on the desk and translates large movements into small movements on screen.

Since the youngsters are quite techno-savvy, and spend a lot of time indoors, we needed to provide much more user control over the system than we normally would do in a standard residential install.

We designed the system hierarchically so the user could simply put on a film, play their PlayStation, or steam music, or they could get more involved and dim each individual lighting circuit and create zones. They should also be able to stream music randomly by pressing one button, or be more sophisticated and create playlists. A few of the young adults who were to use the facility were involved in the design, and came to the Loud & Clear showroom, to play with the products beforehand in order to give us an idea of how to design an appropriate system.

Robert Watson operating the home cinema system.

The solution

Given the installation deadlines, we had very little time to source the products required. We therefore approached those companies that we felt were most likely to support a project of this nature. Bearing in mind the timescales, the response was excellent. Sadly, not all of the products required were able to be donated or subsidised, so please note the equipment list below only includes those companies that were able to supply donated or subsidised products. The balance of products had to be purchased directly at standard prices.

Installation

We designed and installed a full high-performance home cinema system comprising an HD 3D JVC projector along with a high-gain projector screen suited for use in high ambient light; and a full 7.1 surround sound system to access Sky, Blu-rays and DVDs. The projector needed to have reasonable lamp life, and the lamps used were not to be horrendously expensive.

In addition, a multizone Sonos music system was installed to provide a range of streamed music outside and inside, from a music library stored on an external NAS computer drive.

Environmental control came from a Rako electric blind interface and Lutron lighting controller, with overall control via Control4. With the touch of a few simple buttons, the lights dim, the blinds close, the music starts and the movie credits roll.

Installation started at the end of October 2011. The main install was completed by the end November, there was an interim commission at the end of December, and final commissioning at the end of January 2012.

Loud & Clear will be doing six-monthly service calls, which will include training staff to use system.

Challenges

The really interesting and challenging part of this project was in the area of control - ideally the system should be operated by a changing stream of visitors to the facility with a wide range of physical abilities.

The ideal scenario was to be able to control the cinema system, the streaming music system outside and inside, the blinds and the lights from a range of control devices including a laptop, iTouch, iPad and dedicated remote.

We used Control4 to operate the system because this works with a large range of devices. It has its own handset with hard buttons, which is useful to some of the youngsters because they can find the buttons using touch. On the other hand, many did not have the strength to press buttons, so we ran Control4 on iPad and iTouch, and we could also use the Control4 interface on a PC with a jelly mouse.

Having clear space was important, because many of the youngsters are in wheelchairs. The room has multiple functions, so by keeping all of the equipment clear, the room could be used for many other activities. We therefore used in-ceiling speakers from Current Audio, and an in-ceiling subwoofer from Redline. The amp was placed in an equipment rack, and the driver was placed in the ceiling.

Allan Boyd explaining to Robert Watson the functions of the hidden equipment rack.

Customer comments

Alison Blair, Rachel House Activities Coordinator says, "We're so grateful to Ian, Allan and their teams for their help with this project. They've provided a professional, coordinated service for the build and installation and we're delighted with the result. The savings of around GB£20,000 will help support children and young people with life-shortening conditions and their families across Scotland. The home cinema system is a fantastic addition to our newly-opened young adult space.

The space is a specially-designed area for young adults to spend time independently from members of the care team or their families where they can simply hang out in with friends in a private area to get away from it all with the latest high-tech equipment and computer games. The space has proved so popular that before 3pm every day we've opened it up to all family members, and we'll often find a dad relaxing in the luxury massage chair watching a film. The home cinema has got a wide-ranging appeal for all ages and is a much-loved item in the house."

Financials

The initial quote that was submitted was from an independent installer and was in the region of GB£28,000. Allan from Loud & Clear visited Rachel House and felt his normal commercial rate for a similar install would be in the region of GB£20,000, though he agreed to waive his install fees and guaranteed to complete the work for less than GB£17,000.

With equipment donations and subsidies to the tune of GB£7,440 the final figure that was invoiced by Loud & Clear was amended to GB£10,000, saving Rachel House an approximate total of GB£18,000 on their initial quotation. This money will be used in other ways to look after the children, young adults and their families that visit or stay at Rachel House. Loud and Clear have has committed to be available for any servicing and technical queries post install, giving yet further savings.

Conclusion

This project was undertaken on the understanding that due to timescales and the job specification that had already been approved and specified, it would be unlikely that we would be able to deliver a totally donated installation. This is not the way we would have wanted to proceed but we tried to save as much money as we could. However, to be able to save Rachel House around GB£18,000 is a huge achievement, so our thanks go to Allan Boyd and his team at the Loud & Clear Edinburgh and Glasgow offices, and all of the manufacturers and distributors that have helped make this happen.

This installation will bring joy and excitement to many children and their families for many years to come, and is something that will genuinely make a difference.

Equipment list that was donated or subsidised

The following products were all kindly donated:
Control4 - Control4 control system (direct from Control4).
Current Audio - In ceiling speakers, FIT651 (supplied via Habitech Ltd).
Lutron - lighting control (direct from Lutron).
Middle Atlantic - equipment rack (donated by RGB Communications).
Rako - blind controls (direct from Rako).
Speakercraft - outdoor speakers (donated by Aldous Systems).
Velodyne - subwoofer (donated by Redline Distribution).

The following products were all kindly supplied at a subsidised cost:
JVC - projector, X3 D-ILA (supplied by Marata Vision).
Pioneer - Blu-ray player, LX54 (supplied by AWE Distribution).
Pioneer - AVR cinema amplifier, LX75 (supplied by AWE Distribution).
Vutec - screen, 1.8m fixed frame (supplied by Marata Vision).

Ian Morrish is the Sales Manager for ISE, and the driving force behind the AV industry's Together for Short Lives initiative to bring the home cinema experience into the lives of terminally ill children via Children's Hospices in the UK. To become involved in the scheme, please contact ian@ad-con.demon.co.uk or telephone 01372 454366.

www.togetherforshortlives.org.uk