TAC Vista to Schneider EcoStruxure Building Operation Phased Live Migration
10+ MCCs retrofitted, tenant floors live 18 FCP control panels upgraded 170+ VAV boxes integrated via BACnet/IP 17 yrs Age of legacy TAC Vista system 12 mo Programme from kick-off to completion 0 Tenant relocations required
The Brief
A major London office, was replacing most of its mechanical plant and its ageing control system at the same time, all while tenants stayed in the building. 3mse was brought in to tie the whole thing together.
The existing TAC Vista BMS had been running the building for nearly two decades and was reaching the end of its supported life. Spares had become hard to come by, security patches had stopped, and the site needed a platform that could carry it into the next chapter.
At the same time, the landlord was replacing or upgrading most of the mechanical services: new heat pumps in place of old gas heating and chillers, hybrid coolers on the roof, fresh pump sets, and overhauled ventilation throughout. The BMS upgrade had to land into the middle of all of that, without
What we delivered
3mse proposed and delivered a full transition to Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Building Operation . Rather than a rip-and-replace weekend changeover, the project was designed as a controlled, sectioned migration with each functional control section moved across from TAC Vista to EBO once it had been -tested, proven and handed over.
During the changeover
Each replacement control endpoint was -tested on the new system before its wiring, controls and software went live. Old-system graphics for transferred points were deactivated with a pointer to the new system, rather than left ambiguously live.. Our no-live-working policy was respected throughout: every panel was electrically isolated during modification, with contingency plans agreed with the client’s site team to cover plant and access-controlled doors during each isolation window.
Each new point took over its predecessor’s alarming, logging and security attributes to make sure the operators’ day-to-day experience didn’t snap between old and new.
The outcome
The site now runs on a fully modern Schneider Electric EcoStruxure Building Operation platform, with every landlord MCC on modern Server hardware, a full graphics refresh, and spare-capacity headroom for the next wave of tenant fit-outs. The server and engineering workstation give the site team a single mobile-enabled control centre across every floor.
Just as importantly, the site is ready for what comes next. Spare capacity is built in at panel level, the head-end can connect to cloud-based monitoring and predictive maintenance services, and the operations team has a platform that will keep receiving updates instead of quietly ageing out.
What the building operator gets from here
- A supported, patchable platform : without legacy hardware supply-chain risk on critical HVAC plant.
- Headroom built in: 20% spare I/O capacity across every upgraded panel, ready for the next change of use.
- Part L and BREEAM reporting hooks in place via the new heat-meter integration.
- A clean hand-off to site staff with on-site training, secure user groupings and access rights to the outgoing system, and seasonal commissioning to shake the building down through load changes.
Why this project mattered
Live BMS migrations on partially-occupied commercial buildings are where the difference between a controls integrator and a controls partner shows up. The spec for this job asked for a choreographed handover, running in parallel with a full mechanical plant replacement, on a building that couldn’t go dark. That’s the kind of work 3mse is built for: starting with thorough scoping up front, ending with the site team trained and comfortable on the new platform before we leave.