AV Case Study: GPT Space&Co
GPT Space & Co. 181 William meeting rooms look incredible, provide a superior MTR experience and offer reconfigurable flexibility. Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling solutions are at the heart of all three. Case dismissed.
28 May 2025
GPT Space&Co redefines shared flex environments with curated, flexible spaces that foster community and business growth. They stand apart with The GPT Group’s 55+ years of expertise. In 2024, they expanded their portfolio with four new premium A-Grade locations nationwide, including 181 William Street, Melbourne. GPT Space&Co 181 William Street offers an exclusive, on-demand meeting room service. Unlike traditional co-working spaces, it focuses solely on meeting rooms and event spaces, allowing businesses to avoid the costs of maintaining their own.
There are a handful of 4P huddle spaces and ‘phone booths’ but the principal offerings are the sort of larger spaces most firms won’t have in house.
The Electrical Technologies team at Programmed designed and seamlessly integrated the AV system for optimal performance, user experience and supportability. The AV fitout relies on Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling microphones, Logitech VC solutions, Samsung displays, QSC audio, and AVer PTZ cameras. These are MTR spaces offering BYOD and BYOM capabilities. The level of comfort, amenity and acoustic design is a cut above – and certainly more opulent than most barristers’ draughty chambers.
STAYING FLEXIBLE
Camden Webb is The GPT Group’s Flexible Workspace Technology Manager and has seen the rollout of 11 GPT Space&Co locations. It’s been a journey of improvement – making the technology work better for his customers and for GPT. The key bases that need to be hit: the tech needs to be as invisible and as frictionless as possible for clients, and as flexible and easy to manage as possible for GPT.
Camden Webb: “From a technology perspective, flexibility was a key focus, especially for the larger rooms. Traditionally, when AV equipment is placed on or under tables, it limits how the furniture – and, consequently, the space – can be used. If you want to host a cocktail event and move tables and chairs around, you either have to disconnect everything or deal with a cumbersome reset process. We designed the 181 William Street rooms to function seamlessly while allowing for that flexibility. Whether the room is set up in theatre style, boardroom style, or workshop style, users still receive the same high-quality experience.
“This is where the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling microphones play a crucial role. The TCC microphones ensure that no matter where someone is located, they can be heard clearly – remote participants can follow discussions and feel engaged, even if they are not physically present. We have used Sennheiser microphones in previous projects, and they have consistently performed well.”
The Petition and Verdict spaces in room-combined mode. Clients can elect to present in any configuration. The Sennheiser TCC 2 mic arrays give Camden and his team the flexibility they need.
FULL FORCE OF THE LAW
GPT Space&Co 181 William Street is in the heart of Melbourne’s legal district and, as such, the names of its rooms adopt legal nomenclature – Chamber, Judge, Jury, Gavel etc. There are six larger and/or reconfigurable spaces including the Chamber room and the Judge boardroom, which we’ll focus on a little later, and four flexible workshop spaces (including Petition and Verdict, which can be room-combined). The Sennheiser TCC 2 microphones are particularly suitable for the flexible workshop spaces, as they can easily respond to the variety of seating and presentation configurations.
“The Sennheiser microphones provide comprehensive coverage for these larger rooms,” confirms Anthony Aloi. “Alternatively, fixed microphones restrict modularity and limit how a space can be configured.”
“Tabletop microphone pods are effective,” Camden Webb contributes. “And they can be chained together to provide good audio pickup. However, as soon as you remove the table, the microphones become less useful. Ceiling-mounted microphones ensure that the sound is captured consistently, regardless of how the space is arranged. Additionally, the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling solution provides a high level of control over the microphones’ pickup, allowing adjustments that minimise background noise.”
Another consideration, as Programmed’s Anthony Aloi points out, is in how Sennheiser’s TCC microphones interface with AI-driven tools such as Microsoft Co-Pilot, helping to optimise the usage of the GPT spaces, providing automated summaries, intelligent insights, and streamlined collaboration, effectively enhancing the meeting experiences for Space&Co’s customers.
The Chamber room is a stunning space, flexible and sounds great. Three of the new Sennheiser TCC Ms cover the space for a Teams call.
CHAMBER MADE
The Chamber room is a 50-person flexible space jutting conspicuously towards William St. It’s a spectacular space perfect for presentations, workshops, cocktail events and more. The striking interior design makes the most of the unusual geometry of the room and the views afforded by wall-to-ceiling windows on two sides.
As with the other spaces, the Chamber room is a Teams-enabled space, designed to allow remote participants to join proceedings. It’s easy to launch a Teams call via the Logitech Tap interface that each room features.
Programmed’s AV design for the Chamber room features three of the new Sennheiser TCC M mic arrays. The ‘M’ stands for medium, and it’s noticeably smaller than a TCC 2 as well as being round, rather than square.
“There were a few reasons for specifying the TCC M over the TCC 2 in this case,” explains Anthony Aloi. “Combining three TCC Ms gave us great coverage of the unusual geometry of the space while allowing our team to program ‘exclusion zones’ into the coverage to minimise street noise.
“The price was also a big consideration. The TCC M is more cost effective than the TCC 2 without sacrificing too much in performance. So in this case, three TCC Ms was still more cost effective than two TCC 2s.
“Finally, they look amazing and really suit the space aesthetically. The fact we managed to colour match the look of the units takes the integration to another level.”
The Judge boardroom also integrates the Sennheiser TCC M units.
COLOUR MATCHING
To some, colour matching components such as loudspeakers and microphone ceiling tiles might seem unnecessarily tweaky or vain, but GPT Space&Co is a good example of how colour matching is entirely worth the effort.
Anthony Aloi: “One of the advantages of the Sennheiser product is its ability to colour-match any Dulux paint. We worked with the builder to get a sample, which was sent to Sennheiser for matching. The result was perfect.”
Colour matching the Sennheiser TCC M tiles in Chamber and Judge wasn’t so straightforward. The waffle ceiling used an Interpon powdercoating colour which wasn’t supported. Never fear, Programmed’s Queensland paint department stepped up and custom-matched the colour. “It was a bit of a mission but now the microphones blend seamlessly into the ceiling,” comments Anthony Aloi with no small sense of satisfaction.
One of the 4P huddle spaces that relies on Logitech VC solutions.
Programmed went above and beyond to colour match the TCC Ms to the waffle ceiling colour.
AVer PTZ cams and WilliamsAV hearing augmentation contribute to the AV design.
WALK UP START
Australian businesses and government have been frantically rolling out MTRs, and we’ve been on an ease-of-use journey. The ideal is for staff to book a room, launch a meeting and have an exceptional experience, with Teams at the core.
GPT Space&Co’s shared flex environments have a different ease of use mountain to climb. It’s not possible to train staff, every user is a guest.
Anthony Aloi: “These rooms are designed to be as intuitive as possible and to function across a variety of computer types and systems.”
Camden Webb: “We have a full-time manager at 181 William Street but their role is a customer-facing one, not a technical one. So it’s imperative that these meeting rooms require as little hand holding as possible.
“The seamless integration of the Sennheiser TeamConnect Ceiling microphones was a key focus of this project. They’re certainly part of the ease of use, ‘it’s just got to work’ imperative, and user feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”
Programmed: programmed.com.au
Sennheiser: sennheiser.com
Amber Technology (Williams AV/AVer): ambertech.com.au
RESPONSES