Balfour Beatty Delivers ITT Project Using Gather at Ealing Common Depot

9,576 people hours captured across 56 shifts. That's the documented impact of Gather on Balfour Beatty's £2.5 million Ealing Common Depot possession.

Three weeks. That was the window Balfour Beatty's Integrated Track Team had to complete all rail infrastructure upgrades at Ealing Common Depot. Every shift counted. Every hour needed tracking. Every handover between day and night teams had to be smooth.

Transport for London's Integrated Track Team (ITT) partnership with Balfour Beatty manages renewals across 13 kilometres of ballasted track on the London Underground network. The work happens in narrow windows: nights, weekends, and planned closures when passengers aren't using the system.

At Ealing Common Depot, the team faced one of their most challenging possessions: a three-week closure to upgrade £2.5 million of assets. The scope included track renewals, signalling upgrades, and platform works, all coordinated across 56 shifts with 328 programme activities to deliver.

The challenge

The complexity was compounded by the handover challenge. Day teams planned the jobs. Night teams executed the plans. If information didn't flow smoothly between shifts, problems cascaded. A missed instruction at 6pm could mean wasted hours at 2am.

• Zero margin for error: 56 shifts to capture, 328 programme activities to coordinate, £2.5 million of assets at stake
• Day-night handover complexity: Day teams planning jobs, night teams executing plans, both needing the same information
• Paper chaos: Data scattered across WhatsApp, email, SMS, and printed documents with no single source of truth
• Stakeholder scrutiny: TfL demanding real-time visibility into progress and productivity

The problem: information scattered everywhere

Before Gather, the ITT's project data lived in multiple places. WhatsApp groups contained real-time updates that disappeared into chat history. Email threads held critical decisions buried beneath replies. SMS messages captured urgent instructions that were never documented properly. Printed documents from the office team were filled in by hand and scanned at shift end.

"Information was everywhere and nowhere. Getting a complete picture of any shift meant checking five different places. And by the time you'd done that, the information was already outdated."Zak Zvakaramba, Senior Project Manager

The manual processes created particular problems for the commercial team. Labour hours had to be tracked meticulously for cost control and client reporting. But with paper timesheets and handwritten notes, reconciling actual resources against planned resources was a constant struggle.

"We needed a way to capture structured data from site without adding to the supervisors' workload. They were already stretched thin. We couldn't ask them to spend more time on paperwork."Vidandha Galgamuwa, Innovation Manager

The implementation: built for the night shift

The Gather rollout at Ealing Common was designed around the reality of shift-based work. Site supervisors needed something they could use on the move, in low light, with cold hands and limited time. Complex interfaces wouldn't work. Lengthy forms wouldn't be completed.

The platform was configured to pre-populate as much information as possible. Planned activities, expected resources, and standard parameters were loaded before each shift started. Supervisors confirmed or adjusted rather than entering from scratch. What would have taken 30 minutes on paper took five minutes on the app.

Training focused on practical scenarios specific to ITT operations. How do you record a track possession extension? How do you document a safety concern raised during a shift? How do you hand over to the incoming team without a 20-minute phone call?

The day-night handover became a particular strength. Day teams prepared shift diaries with planned activities and expected outcomes. Night teams received this information automatically when they logged in. The conversation shifted from "what are we supposed to be doing?" to "here's how we're going to do it."

The transformation: one platform, one truth

"Gather is a link between the day team and the night team. The diary is prepared by the staff on days planning the jobs and passed on to the night team who execute the plan. Information is stored in one place. Everyone is sharing the same information. No desktop saving."Zak Zvakaramba, Senior Project Manager

The single platform approach eliminated the fragmentation that had plagued previous possessions. Every supervisor, every manager, every stakeholder accessed the same data. No more debates about which version was current. No more lost updates in WhatsApp threads.

Real-time visibility transformed how the project was managed. Instead of waiting for end-of-shift reports to understand progress, project managers could see updates as they happened. If a critical activity was falling behind, they knew immediately rather than discovering it at the next morning's meeting.

The commercial team gained something they'd never had before: reliable productivity data. Labour hours were tracked against specific activities, not just total time on site. This granularity revealed where time was being spent effectively and where improvements could be made.

Results: delivered on time, documented in full

The Ealing Common Depot possession was delivered on time, with complete visibility throughout.

9,576 people hours captured across 56 shifts. Not estimated, not approximated. Captured. Each hour linked to specific activities, specific locations, and specific outcomes. When TfL asked for labour allocation data, the ITT team could produce it in minutes rather than days.

£2.5 million of assets managed with complete clarity over progress. Every track renewal, every signalling upgrade, every platform work was documented with before-and-after records. The audit trail was comprehensive and contemporaneous.

Three weeks to full delivery demonstrated that tight timelines and quality documentation aren't mutually exclusive. The team achieved both because the tools supported both.

Stakeholder confidence through transparency

TfL's confidence in the ITT's reporting capabilities increased significantly. Weekly progress meetings became exercises in review and decision-making rather than data reconciliation. The discussion could focus on what to do next rather than debating what had happened.

"Anyone on our project can view site data now. Whether you are commercial, procurement or project management, everyone has more insights as to what is occurring on site. This has resulted in more of an appreciation for the work the site staff are doing. It has also changed the way we communicate."Vidandha Galgamuwa, Innovation Manager

The transparency worked both ways. Site staff could see how their records were being used, which increased motivation to capture quality data. Supervisors understood that their inputs directly informed project decisions and client reporting.

Site team adoption: making it work for supervisors

Technology adoption on construction sites often fails because the tools don't fit the reality of the work. Supervisors are busy, conditions are challenging, and anything that adds friction gets abandoned.

At Ealing Common, adoption succeeded because the platform genuinely saved time.

"Everyone loves using the Gather app to complete site diaries! It saves us time and improves our communication." Terence Church, Senior Supervisor

The pre-population features were crucial. Supervisors weren't starting from blank forms. They were confirming and adjusting information that was already there. The cognitive load dropped dramatically, and completion rates increased correspondingly.

Lessons for future possessions

The Ealing Common experience established templates and processes that the ITT now uses across all possessions. The investment in getting the first deployment right paid dividends in subsequent projects.

"Gather enables better communication, planning, performance analysis and progress review of sites. One can easily see the outliers, cost drivers and areas where costs can be saved. Elements covered are risks, materials, plant and manpower. Reporting is slicker and much more reliable. No double handling as everyone works from the same source."Zak Zvakaramba, Senior Project Manager

The structured data captured at Ealing Common also provides a baseline for future possessions. The ITT can now compare productivity across projects, identify best practices, and continuously improve their approach to depot renewals.

Key takeaways

• 9,576 people hours captured: Complete labour documentation across 56 shifts
• £2.5 million assets managed: Full visibility over progress and productivity
• 3-week delivery achieved: Tight timelines met with quality documentation
• Day-night handover solved: Smooth information flow between shifts
• Single source of truth: Eliminated fragmentation across WhatsApp, email, and paper

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