Congratulations to our Audio-Visual team, who have just completed an impressive upgrade of the heritage-listed Hobart Town Hall and Council Chambers.
The magnificent Town Hall ballroom has played host to countless special occasions since 1866 — balls, wedding receptions, public meetings, floral festivals and concerts have all filled the room with life. Now, it’s been given a state-of-the-art AV upgrade to match its storied history.
Contact Group worked closely with Australis Music Group to design a fit-for-purpose K-Array loudspeaker and amplifier system, integrated with a Midas rack-mounted digital mixer and stage box. As part of the design process, Nik Buchanan from Australis Music Group modelled the space using EASE acoustic modelling software to optimise loudspeaker placement, coverage and system performance. This detailed modelling helped ensure consistent audio throughout the venue and achieve the highest possible outcome for the space.
Integrated Technologies Specialist Michael Macey said the speakers had to disappear into the heritage surroundings without compromising on sound.
“When you walk into the room, it’s difficult to spot them — the speakers are virtually invisible, but the output and the acoustics are incredible,” he said.
The upgrade also included two twelve-inch subwoofers and two handheld wireless microphones, providing additional low-frequency reinforcement and flexible microphone coverage for a range of events and presentations. Four tie-line connection plates were installed throughout the space, providing multiple SDI video, balanced audio and AVNet connection points. These points are cabled back to dedicated patchbays located within the central equipment rack, which houses the primary video and audio processing devices.
This centralised approach allows signals to be easily routed and reconfigured depending on the requirements of each event. The Hobart City Council team will integrate system control through their custom Companion application, providing intuitive access to the required audio, video and data functions. Together, the distributed connection points, centralised processing and customised control interface provide the flexibility required for the space to accommodate a wide variety of events and configurations. “It allows outside broadcasters or event providers to utilise the installed system while processing signals externally,” Michael said.
Contact Group also worked with George Sotiriadis from Sennheiser to identify and specify the most appropriate wireless microphone solution for the venue. George provided technical guidance around system selection, frequency coordination and coverage requirements, helping ensure the wireless system would deliver reliable performance within the space.
Hobart City Council Team Member Craig Garth said the new system would make life significantly easier for anyone hiring the ballroom and will provide a revenue stream previously not possible for the council.
“It will reduce the need for AV hire and allows the room to be completely flexible, configured in landscape or portrait depending on the type of event,” he said.
Contact Group also delivered a major upgrade of the video conferencing system in the Council Chambers, used to host and broadcast Council meetings. The works included eight displays for Councillors to review Council business at their desks, three broadcast-quality Panasonic video cameras, one large-format mobile public-gallery display, and 20 Sennheiser microphones.
The project was a genuine collaboration with the client, involving numerous meetings with heritage consultants to ensure every upgrade stayed true to the character of this iconic building.
One of the trickiest challenges was hiding the new cabling. Lights and power points. The original plan called for timber casing, but joiners advised it simply couldn’t be achieved to the standard required. Contact Group went back to the drawing board, designing a custom steel solution and partnering with local fabricator Kossmans to bring it to life.
“Chris Kossman was excellent to work with, delivering exactly what we envisaged,” Michael said.
The design went through a full sample demonstration and approval process, ultimately earning the seal of approval from the Martin Gould from Hobart City Council including the councils heritage consultant. The result: custom-built steel system around the council table that neatly conceal all cabling, power points & lights — a smart, discreet solution built to last.
Contact Group also established fibre connectivity between the Chambers and the adjoining building, where the system operator is located. As part of the project, Contact Group developed a suitable fibre patching solution to provide the required connections between the two locations, enabling the operator to maintain full control and monitoring of the AV and broadcast systems remotely.
Michael Macey praised the exceptional effort from everyone involved, including the Hobart City Council team — Martin Gould, Craig Garth and Andrew Preece — steel fabricator Kossmans, and the Contact Group technicians.
Congratulations on an incredible effort, everyone.
