Outline
Dishoom Manchester, the second outside of London, has 231-covers spread between two dining rooms and features The Permit Room cocktail bar. The Bridge Street restaurant is part of the historic grade II listed building and former Freemasons Hall, which has undergone a multimillion pound redevelopment and features many listed ceilings and attributes. It is the seventh Dishoom in the group of restaurants based on the Irani cafés of Mumbai, the last five of which have had the audio designed and installed by CGA Integration.
Challenges
Every Dishoom is unique, yet each has to maintain the same Dishoom audio footprint. This ensures that every Dishoom restaurant feels and sounds the same, delivering Brand continuity across the growing estate. The Former Freemasons Hall is a listed building with decorative listed ceilings, including one which is domed. This led to both acoustic and structural challenges for CGA. Reduced ceiling voids meant that many speakers were directly visible, so they were finished to a RAL colour to blend into the decor and minimise the visual impact. In the downstairs kitchens, the building layout gives limited visual and audio contact between the key areas of the main kitchen and food preparation and pot wash areas. CGA designed a sound system to include ceiling speakers and a custom paging microphone with button plate in the main kitchen, which allows the chef to page or call staff from the pot wash and preparation areas.
Technical
Dishoom Manchester is split into five discrete audio zones across two floors. It comprises of the Lobby, front Dining Room, Permit Cocktail Bar & Derby Room and the Toilets & Corridors downstairs. The audio was delivered throughout by installing EV Evid ceiling, surface and wall mounted speakers in areas with restricted voids, most speakers were finished to a RAL colour, all generating sound quality with minimum visual impact to complement the Dishoom interior design. In addition, two DJ points were installed, one in the Permit Cocktail Bar and one in the Derby Room. This created a sound system with the flexibility, to deliver audio suitable for dining during the day whilst having the capability to generate a full party ambience at night. Ease of staff control of the sound systems was delivered through wall mounted controls all wired back to a central AV & IT rack. These included staff operated volume controls as well as volume presets within the sound processor. All controls were the same as those installed by CGA in other Dishoom sites and were programmed using the same configuration, thus generating familiarity to any staff moving between Dishoom sites. The systems installed also have the added reassurance of remote network support from CGA.
Response
Lenny Dennis Project Manager at Dishoom commented; “As well as understanding Dishoom, CGA also have a wealth of experience in working with both Grade I & Grade II listed buildings, which has ensured the delivery of the best quality audio experience in Dishoom Manchester.”
