District Court Building, Perth
The original District Court Building (DCB) in Perth was completed in 2008 via a Public Private Partnership with Western Liberty Group. The DCB is comprised of 12 storeys and a three-storey low-rise building. The facility included 24 courtrooms, 20 jury courts, 5 hearing rooms, and 18 mediation conferencing rooms.
UT Consulting completed the original Technology Consultancy and Project Management for the project’s builder Multiplex. Since completing the project in 2008, UT Consulting were re-contracted in 2018 to provide the facility with a much needed technology upgrade.
The 2008 court technology design was based around analogue technology solutions. As technology developed, analogue audio and video technologies were superseded by digital technologies. A major driver of the digital technologies is the increase in resolution of the video signal and the ability to transmit both the video and audio over a network. There are a large number of standards for the digital video that include High Definition (HD) and Ultra High Definition (UHD).
When UT Consulting were contracted in 2016 the ability to transmit and receive 4k video over distances was problematic and not economical. Our team designed a solution to allow for a HDMI interface standard with HD 1080 video with provision for future upgrade to 4k, when made more cost effective. Upgrading the analogue technology deployed throughout the District Court Building saw our team undertake the following:
- Inspect and validated the current infrastructure deployed at the DCB, noting any variations from the original design.
- Evaluate all subsystems and document all system interfaces.
- Provide a solution for the separation of the Court AV Systems and Court Recording Systems to enable the current level of functionality with a clear demarcation between the different stakeholders involved.
- Evaluate the impact of various changes to the ownership of the technology systems at the site.
- Provide recommendations for transitioning the technology to the State.
- Provide the design, coordination, and project management expertise required to deliver a technology solution that enables innovation and is efficient for the State and WLG.