Legislative Council Chambers

Tasmanian Parliament House was originally designed as a Customs House by John Lee Archer in 1830. Following the formation of the new Tasmanian Government in 1856 the building was converted into a Parliament House by William Porden Kay.

The current Legislative Council Chamber dates from then.

“The Chamber is the only space in the building which retains its original spatial intent…..Whilst containing some late Victorian modification, the space is essentially early Victorian in character. Most of the furniture in the space has an historical association with the space and is of high significance.

JAWS Interiors were engaged to fit-out the existing Legislative Council Chamber with custom joinery, furniture and lighting selections before the sitting of the new council in 2019. The design intent for the heritage fit-out was to provide technological support to the Councillors in a way that was not intrusive when the chamber is viewed as a whole and is respectful of the existing fabric.

The new joinery also needed to be removable, enabling the Chamber to be stripped out and rearranged for joint sittings of both houses once every four years… and then all reassembled again!

To achieve this, JAWS Interiors collaborated with Southern lighting, Andrew Sutherland Consulting Engineers and VOS Joinery to provide custom pedestal units, new furniture selections and upgrade existing lighting to be more comfortable, giving less eye fatigue and better distribution for video recording.