Delivering flexible and future-ready audio visual technology for the City of Whittlesea’s new Council Chambers.
City of Whittlesea – Council Chambers
UT Consulting recently completed the audio visual design, documentation, and coordination services for the new City of Whittlesea Council Chambers project!
Working closely with JMA Architects, our team designed a flexible audio visual system to support formal meetings, hybrid conferencing, and live streaming.
Led by UT Consulting’s Elena Shchuchkina, the project involved close coordination with integrator MultiTek to ensure the delivered systems balanced reliability, flexibility, and user experience, all while meeting the chamber’s governance and accessibility requirements.
Hybrid Meetings
A key objective of the project was to enable high-quality hybrid meetings without compromising the experience for in-room participants, remote attendees, or members of the public viewing live streams via the council’s YouTube channel.
To support this, eight PTZ cameras were installed throughout the chamber, providing full coverage while avoiding rapid cuts that could cause motion sickness. These cameras offer seamless switching between wide and close angles to capture speakers on all sides of the meeting table.
The camera system is integrated with ceiling-mounted array microphones and managed by a central QSC Core, enabling automated audio and video control, including speaker tracking during dynamic discussions.
Whether meetings take place in person, online, or in hybrid format, the system ensures clear, reliable audio and video for all participants, with minimal manual intervention.
Chamber Presentations
A 110” flat panel display mounted at the front of the room serves as the primary presentation surface, supported by a secondary 55” display used for remote participant video or digital signage.
To ensure clear visibility for all users, the space also includes six 43” displays on height-adjustable trolleys. These can be repositioned to suit a range of use cases, from formal council proceedings to workshops and public events.
Governance & Transparency
Public visibility of council activity was a desired outcome for the project and our team worked to design a supportive audio visual system. A portable streaming system supports high-quality broadcasts of public meetings, with the chamber’s audio visual system delivering clean audio and multiview camera feeds to external encoders. Overflow spaces in the lobby and gallery are serviced by a dedicated audio system, fully controllable from the chamber’s primary touch panel interface.
Two 55” digital signage displays are provided above the entrance to the chamber and integrated with digital signage management platform and council’s MS Outlook calendar to display marketing content and public meeting information for visitors.
Finally, to ensure accessibility for all users, our team designed a hearing augmentation solution that combines infrared and Wi-Fi technologies. Visitors of the space may use either their personal smart devices or loan IR receives to access live audio during proceedings.
Synchronised digital and countdown clocks have also been installed throughout the chamber, ensuring timing transparency and consistent governance workflows.
Project Outcome
The City of Whittlesea Council Chambers is a purpose-built space that reflects the council’s ongoing investment in open, accountable governance. UT Consulting is proud to have delivered an audio visual system that facilitates this investment, blending functionality with ease of use and enhancing accessibility and transparency.
Photography by Dana Beligan.
