The Peninsula London: 130 doors and a flight to Germany

The Peninsula London is one of the most high-profile hospitality projects in the UK. Super-prime residences, sales values above £10,000 per square foot. A building where everything has to work flawlessly.

Somewhere in procurement, 130 motorised doors had been ordered from a German manufacturer. Beautiful doors, precision-engineered, exactly right for the building. With no controls, no integration, no intercom and no security logic.

Other contractors had looked at it. Nobody had an answer. We said yes.

We flew to Germany, sat down with the manufacturer’s engineers, and worked out how to integrate their doors into our control systems. Then we designed and built bespoke intercom and control panels to the hotel’s exact aesthetic requirements — because in a building like that, the hardware on the wall has to match the finish of everything around it.

The security logic was specific to how a high-end residence actually works. If a guest opens a balcony door from inside and steps out, the system knows. If someone climbs onto the balcony from outside, it does not let them in. If a guest gets locked out, they call through to reception.

None of that existed before we built it. Both problems had been brick walls before we arrived. Both are working exactly as they should.