After over two years of renovation, City Hall now offers more opportunities than ever to connect with the city and its residents. With a beautiful inner garden and meeting space, open to the public. The new modern audiovisual facilities also provide more connection with residents. Council and committee meetings are open to the public. Anyone can watch a meeting live. Being transparent to citizens is very important, and good AV helps with that.
Project
Leiden’s characteristic Town Hall has been completely modernised after a major renovation, while of course retaining the building’s historical value. The entire building has been made sustainable and future-proof. At the same time, the monumental council chamber was renovated and a new committee room was created. AVEX received the honourable assignment to design, supply and maintain the new audiovisual facilities.
RELIABLE
Rick Roelofs, supplier manager at Leiden City Council: “Three tender processes were running simultaneously. The renovation of the city hall, the replacement of the council information system (RIS) and the renewal of the audiovisual systems. This obviously takes a lot of time, but everything came together nicely. We were able to match requirements and wishes well. For the AV, AVEX came out on top with their tender based on value for money.”
“To draw up the Programme of Requirements (PVE), we looked at a number of municipalities,” says Anna Marie Slink, deputy registrar and involved in the choice of suppliers from the registry. “Such as to Rotterdam, they are also in a monumental building. The existing AV system was running into certain limits,” Anna Marie continues. “It had been built out a little bit at a time over the years and at a certain point it’s like a block box that doesn’t quite fit together anymore. Our general wish for the new system was above all a reliable and stable system. With good quality image and sound. Of course, there were also more specific wishes, such as the possibility of voting and making names and speaking times visible. And it had to be a user-friendly system. There is so much technology in a hall like this,” says Anna Marie. “AVEX was one of the bidders. Beforehand, we didn’t actually know AVEX, we were completely blank stares.”
FLEXIBLE TO USE
A discussion system has been set up in the council chamber with nearly 40 discussion posts. The committee room also has the same discussion system. All meeting participants have a personal pass. You insert your pass into the discussion post. When you turn on the post, your name and the party you belong to appear on the screen. There is a camera tracking system in both rooms.
The sound system is equipped with hearing-impaired facilities. There are also listening-in rooms. The rooms can be used multifunctionally, and the technology is also designed with this in mind.
“At some meetings, as many as 600 people watch from a distance, especially for topics that are very much on the minds of residents. Because of the agenda item and speaker marking, someone can switch on to the agenda item he or she finds interesting. This makes it so much more user-friendly. Speaker names and functions are also visible. And with the professional camera setting, viewers at home can also follow the meeting much more pleasantly. The images flow together calmly,” says Anna Marie Slink.
User-friendliness was implemented by AVEX in the form of a digital control screen with pre-programmed buttons. Links were realised between the audiovisual systems and the council information system to ensure complete archiving and streaming of the meetings with all associated metadata. Rick: “Transparency from the municipality to the citizens is important. To be a lot closer to the citizens as a municipal council. The right technology offers great added value in this.”
Additional challenges
In a monumental building like this, you have to deal with special laws and regulations if you are going to renovate. The possibilities for renovation and also for installing equipment are more limited. By no means everything is possible and allowed, so this obviously offers extra challenges. AVEX has extensive experience in coming up with solutions while observing the rules.
We also experienced the testing phase, the Proof of Concept, as very pleasant in cooperation with AVEX’s team. Extensive testing was carried out together with the users. AVEX thus tailored everything to our needs.
Comprehensive testing capabilities
Anna Marie: “We also experienced the testing phase, the Proof of Concept, as very pleasant in the cooperation with AVEX’s team. This took place at AVEX. Perfect, because in our own building the renovation was in full swing. Together with the users, we also extensively tested how the control panel could best look. AVEX thus tailored everything to our requirements.”
“We chose not to have any remote control in the halls. The messenger switches the system on and also switches it off again, so that there is as little chance of disruptions to the technology as possible. You don’t want settings to be changed unintentionally. Not by your own employees, but also not, for example, by schoolchildren visiting the Town Hall,” says Rick
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Satisfied users
“The users experience the systems positively, they are very happy with them and are satisfied. Of course, the passes take some getting used to. Without a pass, you can’t actually participate in the meeting. Meanwhile, it is becoming more and more routine,” Anna Marie outlines.
For the Facility Management colleagues, the new technology has a lot of impact. They are the first line for using the system. Rick: “That was a bit of a switch. If something goes wrong, it’s also up to them to take action and call in AVEX, for example. A lot happens in terms of technology during a meeting. If something doesn’t work, it has to be fixed immediately. You can’t just suspend a meeting. It is important that they feel comfortable in this new role. AVEX also provided intensive support during the meetings after delivery. Based on the ‘train the trainer’ and ‘train the team’ concept.”
AVEX also provided intensive meeting support after delivery. Based on the ‘train the trainer’ and ‘train the team’ concept.
It is also nice to say that four other clerks have now visited to come here and look at the system. We showed them everything and shared experiences,” said Anna Marie.
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About Leiden Municipality
Leiden is a great place to work, study, do business and live. It is the City of Discoveries, with a beautiful historic city centre and a rich tradition of knowledge and culture. Leiden has over 125,000 inhabitants. Leiden City Council has 39 seats. City Council and committee meetings are open to the public. It is therefore possible to attend a meeting or watch it live from home. Connecting with the city and its citizens is an important core value. More information: Home – Gemeente Leiden
DEMO OPTIONS
At AVEX headquarters in Breukelen, we regularly host demos and test set-ups. In fact, we have several rooms available here to introduce our clients to the latest equipment. Equipping rooms with the latest AV solutions requires a substantial investment. We therefore like to take the time to discuss various options with our clients and users. With this information and experience, we then determine together which type best suits the objectives and needs.