Custom Utility Control Room Consoles for a Coordinated Systems Operations Center

A utility control room serving more than 200,000 residents required multiple specialized teams to coordinate around one operator-centered room. Tresco’s role was to engineer the custom console package that connected the room strategy to the operators using it every day.

At a Glance

A 12-position, multi-room utility operations center was delivered through a coordinated build cycle and commissioned in January 2025. The package included consoles, millwork, and mobile storage, all built around the room geometry, sightline studies, equipment requirements, and long-shift operator needs. Across both rooms, the console package shared one finish system and one design language.

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The Challenge: Many Systems, One Finished Control Room

The challenge was not only to deliver 12 operator consoles. It was to make sure those consoles worked inside a larger room strategy already shaped by utility operations, architectural planning, sightline studies, and visualization technology.

The new Systems Operations Center had to support electric, water, and gas workflows from connected spaces. Each operating group needed access to its own SCADA feeds, mapping tools, communication systems, and event-response information, while still maintaining awareness of shared conditions across the wider utility network.

At the room level, the design was built around a curved video-wall environment. That changed the console requirements. Worksurface depth, monitor height, backwall dimensions, wing angles, and operator sightlines all had to be coordinated around where operators needed to look, beyond just what equipment needed to fit. The console package also had to carry the technical load of the room. Each position needed to support multiple local displays, CPUs, UPS hardware, transfer-switch equipment, cable routing, grounding, ventilation, and future expansion without crowding the operator or disrupting the room layout.

For Tresco, the core challenge was turning all of those inputs into a console environment that fit the architecture, supported the AV integration, and gave operators a practical workstation for long-shift utility operations. The console package became the physical meeting point between room design, visualization systems, utility workflows, and operator ergonomics.

How the Project Team Coordinated Around the Operator Environment

A control room of this scale is not delivered by one company working alone. The finished room depends on several specialized teams making separate decisions that still have to land as one coordinated operating environment.

For this Systems Operations Center, the utility defined the operational requirements across electric, water, and gas workflows. Robert E. Lamb shaped the facility planning, room layout, and operator sightline studies. Forté led the curved video-wall and visualization integration, working with Barco for the UniSee II and CTRL visualization platforms and Peerless-AV for the custom curved mounting structure. Tresco engineered the operator console package around those inputs.

That coordination influenced practical console decisions throughout the project:

1. Worksurface height
2. Monitor-arm placement
3. Back-wall dimensions
4. Side-wing geometry
5. Equipment access
6. Cable routing
7. Grounding
8. Finish alignment
9. Operator display and shared video-wall alignment

This is where the console package becomes more than furniture. The workstations had to support the room geometry, preserve sightlines, hold technical equipment, and give operators a stable physical interface for monitoring, communication, and response.

Forté’s companion case study covers the curved video-wall and visualization side of the same project. This case study focuses on the operator console package and how Tresco coordinated workstation geometry, equipment integration, ergonomics, and finishes around the room those systems helped create.

The Console Package: Translating Room Requirements Into Operator Workstations

Once the room strategy was defined, the console package had to turn those requirements into usable operator workstations.

Tresco delivered 12 custom wraparound utility control room consoles across two coordinated rooms:

1. The main Control Room
2. The Gas & Water operations area.

The project used two related console families, CT-1 and CT-2, with variations sized for the different room conditions and operator workflows. The consoles were not straight desks placed into the room after the fact. They were U-shaped workstations with curved inward operator cutouts, angled side wings, multi-sided backwalls, large continuous worksurfaces, side equipment zones, and integrated low backwall structures.

Complementary Furniture and Finish Package

The surrounding furniture package followed the same coordination logic as the consoles. Backbars, storage cabinets, lateral files, shelving, hanging file storage, wire grommets, toe kicks, and mobile pedestals were matched to the console layout so the room functioned as one coordinated environment.

A single finish package carried across the consoles, backbars, and mobile storage, helping both rooms feel cohesive, professional, and purpose-built rather than assembled from separate furniture pieces.

The 12 mobile pedestals added file, box, and pencil storage, locking casters, and upholstered seat cushions, allowing them to function as both storage and auxiliary seating during collaboration, event support, or shift handoffs.

The Result: A Coordinated Utility Operations Environment

The finished project delivered a 12-position, multi-room utility operations environment commissioned in January 2025. The console package, backbars, mobile storage, equipment integration, and finish selections were coordinated across the main Control Room and Gas & Water operations area so the spaces functioned as one connected facility rather than separate furniture packages placed around technology.

The result was a console environment built to support operators managing electric, water, and gas systems for more than 200,000 residents. Instead of treating the workstations, visualization systems, equipment storage, and room layout as separate decisions, the project brought them together around a shared operational goal: giving operators a physical environment that supported monitoring, communication, and response across multiple utility systems.

For Tresco, the project became a clear example of how custom utility control room consoles can support a larger project team while staying focused on the operator position. The consoles had to fit the architecture, preserve sightlines, coordinate with the shared video-wall environment, and carry the technical infrastructure required for 24/7 utility operations.

Project Detail	Outcome
Operator positions delivered	12 custom wraparound consoles
Rooms coordinated	Main Control Room and Gas & Water operations
Console families	CT-1 and CT-2 variants
Utility systems supported	Electric, water, and gas operations
Population served	More than 200,000 residents
Monitor support	9 monitor arms per position, supporting 7 × 32″ and 2 × 24″ displays
Equipment integration	4 active CPUs plus 2 future CPUs, UPS, transfer-switch equipment, rackmount rails, ventilation, grounding, and cable routing
Ergonomic references	95th-percentile cross sections and ANSI/HFES 100-2007 guidance
Coordinated millwork	6 backbar types, including a 34-foot BB-5 cabinet run
Mobile storage	12 mobile pedestals with file, box, pencil storage, locking casters, and upholstered seat cushions
Commissioning	January 2025
Project coordination cycle	Approximately 115 weeks from original schedule start to project completion

When This Coordination Pattern Fits

Not every control room project needs this level of coordination. Some rooms need a smaller console refresh, a standard workstation layout, or a faster console retrofit package.

This pattern fits when the control room itself is being shaped around multiple systems, shared displays, specialized infrastructure, and long-term operator use. In those environments, the console package cannot be treated as a late-stage furniture order. It has to be coordinated with the room, the technology, and the workflows from the beginning.

A coordinated console package is especially valuable when:

1. The room is being designed around a video wall or shared visualization system
2. Multiple operating groups need to work from connected spaces
3. Operators need several local displays while maintaining awareness of shared room conditions
4. CPU, UPS, transfer-switch, power, data, and cable pathways need to be housed inside the workstation footprint
5. Architects, AV integrators, and console manufacturers need to coordinate before installation
6. The facility needs a consistent finish package across consoles, storage, backbars, and millwork
7. The room supports 24/7 or extended-shift operations, where ergonomics, reach, posture, and comfort directly affect how the space is used

For utilities, transportation agencies, security operations centers, and other mission-critical environments, this type of coordination helps prevent a common problem: a room where the displays, furniture, infrastructure, and operator workflows technically fit, but do not work cleanly together.

The goal is not just to place consoles in a room. The goal is to make the operator workstation part of the room’s operating logic.

FAQ

*Customer identity withheld. Project details presented anonymously. The room’s curved video-wall and AV integration are covered in a companion case study by Forté Technology. Project commissioned January 2025.*

*By the Tresco Consoles engineering team.*