Islington goes to town with hall restoration

Town halls are known for their grandeur and tradition, so it's rare to find one capable of pumping out 96dB, with projections measuring 6x4.5m, all powered from one control panel.

That is the situation at the completely revamped Assembly Hall, part of Islington Town Hall in London. Built in 1930, many original elements of the listed building, such as the stage and balcony, are intact. But the 370-seater hall had fallen into disrepair, and two years ago was full of bricks and boxes, with plaster hanging off the walls.

Five companies bid for the revamp work, and despite av integrator Tyco's bid coming in at nearly double the initial budget, it won the contract for the flexibility of its proposal. The integrator, which draws 80 per cent of its business from local government, had also been involved in the initial stages of the job, at the request of an av consultant, when it was hired to look at the options for the hall. Unusually for an av project, which is often subject to multiple amendments, many of Tyco's original suggestions, such as short-throw projection, were implemented in the final installation. Why did Tyco recommend short-throw projection when the other bidders did not? Keith Blackwell, Tyco's sales manager, av communications, says: 'It was chosen to avoid shadow from presenters and stage acts, but most of all, combining the short throw and Vioso edge-blending software allowed us to position the projectors at quite an acute angle to the screen so as to avoid the projector being seen from the audience and avoiding pelmet drops.'

The original remit was just to restore the hall so it could be used for conferences and meetings. But this soon changed as the project progressed, says Blackwell. 'The client started to think about how they could use the room and av came to the forefront of their minds,' he explains.

At the planning stage, the council highlighted the scarcity of similar venues in the Islington area - and made clear its intention for the hall to be made suitable for private event hire, as well as council use. The hall is suitable for weddings, schools events, presentations, AGMs, live music and theatre, and as a back-up council chamber.

Much of the av system in the hall is managed by a single Crestron controller for ease of use. 'Many local authorities don't have an av department and rely on the IT boys to pull in some favours,' says Blackwell. The basic functions of the audio are also controlled by the Crestron, as John Ellis, permanent install sales consultant at Shuttlesound, explains. 'In this system there is no mixing desk as such. Sometimes there won't be an av technician on site. The caretaker, say, can just pick up the controller, move the volume slider up and down, switch on the microphones, clip on a radio mic and, hey presto, it's working.'

The system has been simplified to such a degree that there are buttons with labels such as 'wedding', 'conference' and 'party'. Pressing them causes the lights and audio to come on at a level set by Tyco, to meet the av requirements for that particular booking. The operator can also control the hall's LEDs, stage lights, projectors and film screen.

Audio for the project comes courtesy of Bosch, in the form of conferencing and ElectroVoice line-array speakers. The installation was complicated as the hall has an upper-tier gallery, and sound has to reach not only above the balcony, but beneath it. What's more, the acoustics were highly reverberant, thanks to a fully sprung ballroom dancefloor.

The hall is a listed building, so cabling was a big issue. Instead of installing speakers at the front and back, and delaying or manipulating the sound, as would normally happen, Bosch installed a six-speaker stack of ElectroVoice line arrays either side of the stage.

Ellis used Bosch's LAPS software to calculate how many speakers were needed and where they should be placed. 'The original plan was for a five-speaker line array with under-balcony speakers at the back, but the client didn't want under-balcony speakers so a sixth was added. The LAPS found the right angle for sound to still reach the back wall,' says Ellis.

A wireless Bosch audio conferencing system has also been introduced for council meetings outside the main chamber. An audio point means council members can take part by simply plugging in the conference aerial.

Tyco wanted the audio to integrate with the Crestron system, so Bosch's Netmax DSP drives the amplifiers for the line arrays and interfaces with the controller.

There was no reference to live audio in the original remit, but because the 96B system can cope with it, the council has found itself renting out the hall to bands and orchestras for concerts. To make sure those living near the town hall are not irritated by Islington's answer to Dizzee Rascal, no users are allowed to bring in their own PA, and the system is password-protected so volume can be restricted.

If there is something the av industry can take heart from in this installation, it's the income gained from service. Tyco has actually sold two service contracts here - one is full-service, the other is a separate event contract whereby the council can hire Tyco staff on an ad hoc basis. The company has also fitted out two additional committee rooms with av kit for Islington as a result of this job.

KIT LIST
- 10 x ElectroVoice XLE181 line array
- 4 x ElectroVoice XC212 flying sub bas
- 1 x ElectroVoice N800 DSP
- 1 x ElectroVoice CPS8.5 8 x 500W amp
- 1 x ElectroVoice CPS2.4 mk11 4x400W amp
- 4 x LG 42LH3000 LCD screens
- 2 x Eiki LC-XG250L 4000 lumens projectors
- 1 x Kramer VP-728 8-input digital scaler/switcher
- 1 x Crestron TPSI-AV2PAK-6X controller
- 4 x Sennheiser EW122G3 lavalier wireless mics
- 1 x Sennheiser EW135G3 handheld wireless mic
- 4 x Unicol VSS-1500X2-PS2-PLW trolleys
- 1 x Kramer VP450 distribution amplifier