A Client’s Perspective on ETON – the controls divison of TClarke
14/3/19: ETON is a key element of our powerful and growing technology business. Director Jamie Ward takes a look in detail at what the company offers and how it has delivered at One Bank Street, with comments from longstanding client, Daniel Westfallen of Canary Wharf Contractors
“The installation is 99.99% spot on first time”
ETON is a long-established Building Controls company with a name for quality in the industry. Our whole approach is based on the idea of growth through lasting customer relationships. Our focus is on the details of those relationships.
That isn’t a complicated concept; you can achieve it by understanding your customers and what they want – and then going on to deliver that. So when Canary Wharf Contractors’ Daniel Westfallen says : “There is never anything outstanding, we are never waiting for anything, it’s all up to speed, up-to-date and the installation is 99.99% spot on first time,” those words speak for themselves – they are a compliment to our people and the way they work.
From the start, we have built our business on a philosophy of directly-employed teams, that build high levels of commitment and team experience. Every customer has their own culture and systems. Truly knowing what a customer needs and how they think, is the key to delivering value. We get to know these needs, not just in general, but in the precise details of process, technology and goals – we can then predict them.
“I want to highlight their ability to collaborate”
ETON develops deep systems knowledge in building controls with expertise in practical buildability and then we apply it to bring about innovations for programme efficiency. This knowledge-based approach has allowed us to develop and win relationships with some of the world’s most innovative digital organisations.
Our One Bank Street Project has delivered precisely the kind of practical engineering innovation we target, as our client Daniel Westfallen says : “The innovations to the design here have delivered major programme and cost improvements for us at CWC. What I want to highlight is that the innovation ETON achieved depended on the excellence of their installation and the ability of their people to collaborate with other trades – to me that makes it even more impressive.”
Crucially, our innovations are underpinned by the high quality of our controls panels which we manufacture for ourselves – again our client’s words highlight this : “Their panels are real works of art – they are so well made; their panel drawings are also the best and the easiest to use”.
One Bank Street : demonstrating the way we deliver projects
One Bank Street is a 27 storey, 700,000 sq ft commercial development from Canary Wharf Contractors (CWC) and global banker Societe Generale is taking 270,000 sq ft for 25 years there. ETON has delivered the BMS with a Cylon BacNet system.
During the design phase, we identified the opportunity to maximise performance efficiency of the overall system and save major costs. The innovation was to create a high level interface for the 178 motorised smoke fire dampers to be monitored for their end switches at a single interface point, rather than needing cabling to each individual damper. Eton also incorporated the sprinkler pump room signals and a full aspirating monitoring system through the same high level interface between them and the fire alarm contractor. This resulted in a huge amount of cabling and time being saved on the project.The same approach was also taken with the monitoring of the aspiration systems.
Daniel Westfallen of CWC said : “This innovation went far beyond what we had been expecting from the original designs and we were delighted with the quality of ETON’s thinking here. ETON also designed a way to install an enhanced network for tenants, with alternative cabling routes that didn’t need to enter any tenants demise and so created major programme advantages. Once again this was a smart and very valuable design innovation.”
“ETON know our processes inside out”
“ETON have made it their business to know our processes and methods inside out. That level of knowledge means they can go ahead and sort things without bothering us. So, where they spotted some sensors missing on the design, ETON went directly to the consultant with an email, a phone call and the right solution. It was the same when investigating underfloor heating controls. They make decisions that benefit us, like this one, with confidence, because they know us.
“The quality of their manufactured panels, their installation and their co-ordination of work means that when they issue the Notification of Readiness for Inspection, we know that they are really ready, and that the installation is 99.99% spot on. They are always onsite and their supervision teams can’t do enough for you. Morevover you can rely on them to work with our other contractors in the best way. The ETON service saves us from the practical challenges and costs which come when you need constant inspection and close control to deliver the project without risk. ETON are great partners to work with – and we get this service consistently – project after project.”