Tateside has integrated AV and IT solutions across several WatchHouse locations, including background music and digital signage and will support the brand’s expansion moving forward, including the opening of new Houses in the USA.
WatchHouse offers exceptional hot drinks and food in beautiful surroundings served by a passionate team of coffee professionals. Around the corner from the chain’s inaugural Bermondsey House is their Roastery which allows WatchHouse to create unique local blends and premium coffee across all its locations. WatchHouse is recognised for the stylish interiors of its branches and works with a mixture of award-winning interior designers to define and elaborate on the distinctive aesthetic of each location.
“WatchHouse sought a partner to handle both IT and AV aspects during the scaling of their operations,” recalls Jack Cornish, Technical Director at Tateside. “We’re providing them with a complete solution, from initial design through to implementation and ongoing support.”
Maintaining each House’s individuality may present a challenge when it comes to scalability, but in fact, this challenge has proved to be an opportunity for the Tateside team, who can showcase the versatility of their skills and the diversity of the AV brands they work with by providing bespoke solutions at each House.
For background audio, Tateside specified loudspeakers in various formats, from discreet slim-line boxes to invisible speakers bonded behind wooden panels to lighting track-based speakers. Some of the latest House fitouts have included the integration of digital projection for menu displays, requiring careful placement of projectors within joinery or walls.
“One example of the work we’re doing with WatchHouse is the Fenchurch Street branch, where we utilised Origin Acoustics discreet opening speakers and subwoofers to provide a great audio experience with minimal visual impact” explains Cornish. Tateside also installed compact DSP amps from Powersoft to get the most out of each system, with simple user control provided by on-wall control panels.
“An Epson 4K super-ultra-short-throw laser projector is used to display the digital menu onto a beautiful solid marble wall,” continued Cornish. “It was incredibly important that the projector was out of sight so we designed this into the joinery detail above with a slot for the projected light ensuring that the projector could not be seen from underneath. We used a 4K BrightSign player as we love their reliability and we used Embed Signage for our cloud-managed CMS for all remote content management and scheduling.”
Tateside not only designs and integrates the AV system for WatchHouse, but also provides a comprehensive solution covering passive and active IT infrastructure and ongoing support. “Whilst the backend stays the same, each House requires something different, so we’re drawing up the plans for each branch, organising and fitting the Wi-Fi, the switches, the routers, dealing with the ISP and the AV system,” continues Cornish. “After the installation is complete, we’re then available to provide support in case of any issues and keep the system up to date through our Managed Services team.”
As part of WatchHouse’s expansion plan, Tateside is currently working on active projects in Canary Wharf, Hampstead Heath, Marble Arch, Fitzrovia and across the pond in New York, with additional Houses in the pipeline.
“As WatchHouse grows it’s reassuring to know that our technology needs are entirely taken care of by Tateside,” confirms Roland Horne, CEO and Founder at WatchHouse. “Each of our Houses possesses a unique identity and working with the Tateside team we’re able to retain the same language of our spaces whilst ensuring a consistent high-quality execution of the technology. Tateside has welcomed the challenge of fitting out our branches with the best yet most discreet technology and we can’t wait to see the creative solutions they bring as we continue to expand.”
“Following WatchHouse’s recent funding round, they aim to open 500 Houses by 2033,” says Cornish. “We’ll be working with them to execute multiple active projects at any one time which will allow us to demonstrate our project management skills. It’s a pleasure to work with WatchHouse; they don’t cut corners when it comes to creating these impressive spaces.”
