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Marlborough District Council - Chambers Upgrade

A refresh for council chambers to make meetings easy, consistent and dependable.

Marlborough District Council – Council Chambers Upgrade

Marlborough District Council serves the people of Marlborough, providing essential services, supporting community wellbeing, and managing the region’s unique natural environment. The council is committed to open, inclusive decision-making and future-ready infrastructure, ensuring residents, businesses, and visitors can participate fully in council matters.

The council chambers had reached a point where the technology was holding meetings back rather than supporting them. Video conferencing was unreliable, hybrid meetings were difficult to run smoothly, and staff had to manage multiple disconnected systems just to host a single session. Recording and broadcasting council meetings also required hands-on management throughout, adding pressure and increasing the risk of mistakes during public sessions.

With Microsoft Teams now central to day-to-day collaboration, the chambers needed to become a space where in-person and remote participants could interact naturally – without technical barriers.

Our brief was simple: make meetings easy, consistent, and dependable.

Automation Associates redesigned the council chambers to operate as a single, unified system rather than a collection of devices. A central touch-panel now controls the entire room – video conferencing, cameras, audio, displays, and recording – allowing meetings to start with one action rather than a series of setup steps.

The room is now a dedicated Microsoft Teams meeting space, enabling councillors, staff, and the public to join seamlessly whether they are in the chamber, other council offices, or remote locations. Intelligent cameras automatically frame speakers, while the audio system ensures everyone is heard clearly both in-room and online.

Wireless table microphones were introduced throughout the chamber and linked to automatic camera switching, ensuring the active speaker is captured in real time. This significantly improves the experience for remote attendees and enhances the clarity and overall quality of recorded public sessions.

Council meetings can also be recorded or streamed directly without any manual setup.

Where practical, existing equipment was retained and integrated into the new platform, keeping costs down and ensuring nothing still fit for purpose was wasted.

The council chambers now function as a modern hybrid meeting environment:
• Meetings start instantly and run consistently
• Remote participants feel connected and engaged
• Public meetings can be recorded or streamed reliably
• Staff no longer need technical expertise to run sessions
• Fewer support issues and reduced setup time

Most importantly, the technology is simple, intuitive, and reliable. The chamber now supports formal council sessions, workshops, and day-to-day collaboration – providing a flexible, modern, and future-ready meeting space for Marlborough District Council.

We consult, design, and install technology solutions that adapt as your business changes.

With offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, our friendly consultants are here to help.

Contact us today if your technology is falling behind – We’ll review what you’ve got and help bring it back to the future – smarter, simpler, and ready for today’s and tomorrow’s needs.

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