8-10 Waterloo Place, London SW1Y 4BE

"Fujitec made us look good on this project."

Rony Eappen, Associate Director, D2E

CHALLENGE

Waterloo Place is full of history and grandeur. No. 8-10 Waterloo Place is a Grade II listed 18th century building located within the St. James conservation area. It has 5 upper floors of office space and basement and a ground floor and mezzanine which previously housed a branch of Lloyds Bank. There is an imposing, ornate central staircase, with listed ornate railings going all the way round and that run right through the 6 floors. The previous 8-person lift installed in the early 1960s, went through the central stairwell in a steel and back-painted glass structure.

In 2016, D2E, an independent international Vertical Transportation consultancy, were appointed to find a supplier for the lift part of the re-development of 8-10 Waterloo Place. The client and architectural team had a big vision for the building which included a statement making lift solution because of the prestige of the building and the impressive circular staircase. The design needed to be modern whilst respecting the heritage of the listed building.

APPROACH

The architectural vision for the lift looked stunning in CGI – the challenge D2E faced was refining the design so that it could be built and finding a lift manufacturer that could meet the specification, timing and commercial constraints. Led by Rony Eappen, Associate Director, D2EInternational VT Consultant (D2E), the team developed a product solution they were confident the lift industry could deliver, and that allowed the lift designers and manufacturers to contribute to the final outcome.

A tender was issued and 3 companies, including Fujitec, responded. The D2E due diligence process and tender analysis identified that the Fujitec bid was commercially and technically viable and the decision was taken to progress to the next stage. Rony Eappen was very aware of the engineering excellence delivered by Japanese companies, often better than found elsewhere, but was concerned about their reputation of being inflexible. Also, the UK market is fast-paced, requiring great flexibility and historic buildings don’t allow the space for the earthquake proof lift structures used in Japan.

OUTCOME

The project was finished to budget and schedule. It was a complete turnkey project with Fujitec undertaking everything on this complex project.

SATISFACTION

D2E has been employed to look after the asset with Fujitec as the maintenance provider and for Rony and his team, a key test for such a project is operational reliability. With an industry average of 4 breakdowns a year, Fujitec’s record at 8-10 Waterloo Place is first-class:

• 2019 – zero call-outs
• 2020 – zero call-outs

“Fujitec UK did not make a sales pitch, instead they made a technically-led presentation that was delivered by the team who were going to do the work.

This, together with the strong commercials and capability to meet the tight timelines, convinced us to recommend to the client that Fujitec were the right supplier.”

Rony Eappen

Associate Director, D2E