Flexible Structured Cabling Solution – Hamer Hall

The Hamer Hall Redevelopment required a reliable and state of the art structured cabling solution which would provide high speed networking for all the data and communications, audio visual, broadcast, and automation technology on the one network.

Project Overview

Hamer Hall opened in 1982 as the Melbourne Concert Hall on a site with an illustrious cultural history. In 2011, a Master plan was determined for the Southbank Cultural Precinct Redevelopment. The redevelopment would create a world renowned state-of-the-art facility. This would secure Melbourne’s reputation as Australia’s cultural capital for years to come. The first stage of the plan consists of a revitalisation of Hamer Hall and its surrounds.

The final outcome would deliver significantly improved amenities with new stairs, escalators and lifts. As well as improved disabled access; new, expanded foyer spaces, improved acoustics, new auditorium seating, ‘cutting edge’ staging systems and technology; a spectacular new outlook to the city, and new connections to St Kilda Road and the Yarra River. (Baulderstone, 2011)

The Technical Challenge

Concert halls and theatre productions rely upon computer technology to create and deliver their audio, communications and automation needs. Hamer Hall was to be installed with a state of the art integrated networking, data/voice communications, audio/video, A/V control and building management system. This would service both indoor and outdoor broadcasts and events.

Hamer Hall required a reliable and state of the art structured cabling solution to provide high speed networking for all the data and communications, audio visual, broadcast, and automation technology on the one network. The solution would need to cope with any future bandwidth requirement. This was to ensure that essential communications and automation technology as well as audio visual equipment for public and function spaces, multimedia displays and broadcasting facilities, would be catered for both now and well into the future.

The Cabling Solution

Madison Express (Madison Technologies) provided an end-to-end fibre and Ethernet cabling and connectivity package. And all designed specifically to provide Hamer Hall with a comprehensive, integrated structured cabling system that offered flexibility, interoperability and ease of maintenance over the long term.

The connectivity package included the following:

• Fibre connectivity components include rack-mount Patch Panels, Patch Cords, Splice Cassettes, Splice Holders, Pigtails, Breakout trays and cables, indoor and outdoor riser cable, Adaptors and Connectors.
• The voice backbone is a copper based Belden system comprised of 50-pair Category 3 cables.
• Audio connectivity components include Belden audio and speaker cable, audio snake cable, instrumentation and control cables, underground RG-6 video and audio cable and Neutrik IP65 outdoor rated connectors.
• Copper connectivity products include Cat 5e Patch Panels and Cat6a 48 Port 1RU High Density Patch Panels, Patch Leads and 50 km of R&M Cat6a 4pr Low Smoke Zero Halogen Cable as well as the R&M Cat6A ISO Jack, cable management, racks and communications cabinets, Ethernet switching and face plates.

This project was the first of its kind in Australia to use the ISO Cat6A jack from R&M. This enables applications above and beyond 10 Gigabit Ethernet, resulting in an even longer life for the cabling infrastructure.

The R&M ISO Cat6A jack is the only module with automatic cutting without a tool. This leads to fast, easy termination and consistent results. The small form factor enables high density applications while maintaining backward compatibility with a full range of patch panels and most outlets.