There was great excitement at the historic Mansion House in Dublin on Friday, May 11 last as the inaugural Ireland’s National Electrical Awards winners were announced. The team at Eclipse Controls were popping the champagne corks after they were unveiled as ‘Specialist Contractor of the Year’ winners.
The Ireland’s National Electrical Awards were set up to recognise the high levels of excellence from the country’s top electrical contractors, consultants, wholesalers, manufacturers and people as well as products and projects.
Cork-based Eclipse Controls are the Value Added Partner for Philips specialist lighting and control solutions and the preferred partner of Pharos Architectural Controls for the island of Ireland. Company directors Paul Williams, Robert Gill and Conor Quigley have over 30 years combined experience in the automation and controls industry.
Eclipse Controls were worthy winners of the Specialist Contractor of the Year accolade. “It is great recognition for the company,” Paul Williams told Building Ireland. “We were hopeful of getting placed but it came as a pleasant surprise to all of us when we were announced as the winners.”
Eclipse Controls provide services ranging from supply and commissioning of specialist lighting and control equipment to project management and handover. Their work on the redevelopment and expansion at the renowned Mount Juliet Estate in Kilkenny caught the eye of the judges.
The €12m redevelopment incorporated 60 new bedrooms in the Hunters Yard area as well as the construction of a new golf clubhouse, members bar and changing areas. Kendals restaurant was also redeveloped to make way for a new banqueting hall which has a capacity of up to 220 people.
Eclipse were commissioned to improve and undertake a total refit of the existing Kendals banqueting suite and Hunters Yard control systems. Whilst the client already had some good lighting features they really wanted to bring in an interface that meant they would be able to control their systems from one, easy to use interface.
Eclipse provided a solution utilizing both Pharos and Philips Dynalite Control Systems ultimately giving touch screen access via the Pharos TPC. They also worked on a Philips Dynalite solution to the Hunters Yard Bars.
In more detail, this solution entailed: Philips Dynalite and Pharos lighting controls to the Kendals banqueting suite; phase dimming of standard lighting; DMX control of LED strip lighting; bespoke programming to Pharos touch screen allowing full control of all standard and colour change lighting; Philips Dynalite Lighting Controls to Hunters Yard bar and the new reception areas; phase dimming of lighting; preset scenes and Antumbra display user interfaces to control lighting system.
“Shane Crowley of D Light (lighting design and supply) and Ian Kelly (Electrical Contractor) also played big parts in the successful completion of the Mount Juliet project,” Paul added.
Fast forward to 2018 and the burgeoning Cork company, which has 12 employees on its payroll, recently completed an upgrade of the lighting and control system in the banqueting suites and conference center at the Lyrath Estate Kilkenny. This project consisted of a full upgrade of all lighting to LED and replacement of the existing lighting control with a fully integrated Philips Dynalite system.
Nirvana Lighting provided the design and supply of all lighting while Eclipse Controls supplied and commissioned the control system. The end product provides the clients with a dynamic and energy efficient lighting system which can be controlled by the in-room LCD wall panels or from any smart device using the Philips Dynalite App
“We’re also working on a project at Terminal One in Dublin airport which is an upgrade of the existing life safety systems,” Paul added. “We have multiple retail projects on the go throughout the country as well as pharmaceutical and hospitality projects. We’re currently on site at a leisure center in Northern Ireland and we have a lot of office fit-outs in addition to ongoing maintenance and service contracts.”
When you choose Philips Dynalite, you are selecting the world’s finest lighting control system. Tried and tested in more than 30,000 projects, they have implemented some of the largest and most extensive control networks around the globe. The same robust technology can be used in any application, on any scale.
Paul added: “The Philips range gives us the ability to work across many sectors from a small apartment right up to the largest office block and everything in between. There is huge scalability.
“Thankfully, business is going extremely well at the moment and a big thing in our advantage is the experience that we, as directors, have accumulated in the industry. Rob and I come from an electrical background while Conor comes from an economics background.
“We have a good spread of experience and knowledge between the three of us and we understand the issues that arise on the ground. We work hard to take those issues out of our system and, with a considerable input from our hard working and dedicated team, we always offer a high level of quality, service and support to our customers.”
Eclipse Controls
Unit 4
Carrigaline Industrial Estate,
Crosshaven Rd,
Carrigaline,
Co. Cork
Tel: 00353 21 2355714
Email: [email protected]
Web: eclipsecontrols.ie
Taken from Building Ireland Magazine, November 2018, Vol 4 No 10
