London Borough of Hackney

London, UK

One of 14 Inner London boroughs, the London Borough of Hackney is located in the north-east of the city and covers an area of just under 19 square kilometres, making it one of the smallest London boroughs.

Set on the doorstep of the City, Hackney’s close proximity to London’s financial quarter has encouraged growth and prosperity and a number of major investors have been attracted to the area. Hackney’s Academies Programme now has high profile sponsors, including KPMG, UBS and the City of London.

A substantial part of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic site lies with Hackney Wick, part of the Hackney’s Wick Ward and, in readiness for the 2012 Games, Hackney Council is working to create a thriving new neighbourhood, with new rail links and infrastructure that will increase Hackney’s accessibility and future viability.

AV to complement the Council’s striking architecture and very public layout

Early in 2010, Hackney Council’s new state-of-the-art Service Centre, located behind the existing Hackney Town Hall, opened for business. Its contemporary design was chosen to complement the much-loved 1930s, grade II listed, art deco Town Hall building and has brought the local authority’s service and the staff who deliver them together.

The audio control system also features a Biamp RED-1 remote ethernet device, one of the world’s most versatile and intuitive graphical remote control units; this is the first time a Biamp RED-1 has been installed in a UK facility.

The dominant feature of the new building is a glass-cased atrium which spans all five storeys of the centre and houses the Council’s public reception, with a waiting area, range of interview spaces, pods for online self-service and a cafe.

Following a tendering exercise, proAV was successfully selected to deliver a comprehensive audio visual solution that would complement the striking architecture and very public layout of the new facilities.

The systems include a central media distribution system with a queue management system to ensure complete control of a suite of LCD screens, each with coordinated display of queue and general information, news announcements and emergency information and a fully-dedicated video conferencing suite.

A central audio control system now allows the centralised control of all audio throughout the atrium and registrar lobby, with 3 separate audio channels configured to announce simultaneously. The audio control system also features a Biamp RED-1 remote ethernet device, one of the world’s most versatile and intuitive graphical remote control units; this is the first time a Biamp RED-1 has been installed in a UK facility.

proAV also designed and installed a disaster recovery system, which was also delivered as part of this high profile project and is critical to the operation of the Service Centre, enabling the continued operation of the audio visual system in the event of a primary system fault.

This outstanding AV scheme was delivered on time, within budget and remained true to the agreed specification.

Discover more about proAV's dynamic display technologies, then contact us so we can show you the difference they can make to your organisation.

The striking glass-cased atrium area which houses Hackney Council’s public reception was equipped with a number of professional AV technologies, including:

Display equipment

• 3 x High Definition 52” 1920x1080 pixel, ultra thin bezel LCD display screen, wall and tower mounted
• 4 x 46” 1366x768 pixel, LCD display screen, wall and tower mounted

Video switching and distribution equipment

• High resolution, HDTV compatible matrix switcher with 8 x inputs to maximum of 8 x outputs over CAT 5/5e/6 cabling
• Video to computer graphics digital scaler

Centralised audio equipment

• DSP presentation mixer with 4 x mic/line inputs, 6 x stereo program line inputs, 5 x line outputs and ethernet port for software configuration and control
• Biamp RED-1 remote ethernet control unit, fully configurable to 32 selectable system volumes and actions
• 6 channel amplifier
• 120 watt power amplifier
• Intelligent microprocessor-controlled desktop microphone unit