Project Description
The new Shepparton Law Courts building is nearing completion. This project was a “green field” courtroom technology site providing Court Services Victoria and Hanson Associates (under ICE Design) a unique opportunity to explore new generation technologies in acoustically controlled courtroom environments. In pursuit of an “exemplar” project outcome the design for the project will form templates for future courtrooms in Victoria and potentially across Australia. During the early design stage, our team was challenged to identify ways in which processes could be delivered more effectively and robustly using flexible solutions that suited the varying demands of a multi-jurisdictional courtroom.
Although the core operations and room layouts for the Shepparton courtrooms remain unchanged from tradition, the underlying technology has leveraged the robustness, flexibility and cost-efficiency of IT network infrastructure to readily transport audio, video and control traffic potentially anywhere in the building. The project represents several ‘firsts’ for Australia. For example, the judicial bench will be fitted with a permanent video conference facility to support remote video links for circuit judges.
