Brentford Island

The Development

The Island is a popular, gated development situated at Brentford Lock, West London. Boasting views across the River Brent and the Grand Union Canal, the development is located on a large island in the middle of a lock basin.

Developed in 2001 by British Waterways, St George and Charles Church (and later Crest Nicholson), the award-winning The Island comprises of 173 apartments and 20 four-bedroom riverside houses.

Apartments and penthouses have been finished to a high specification and include spacious open-plan living areas, floor-to-ceiling windows, and private balconies or terraces. Many also have wood flooring, under-floor heating, air conditioning, and state-of-the art built-in appliances. Residents benefit from a concierge service and secure underground parking. 

The Island development is run by The Brentford Lock Island Residence Association Ltd.

The Proposal

The directors & residents association for Brentford Island were looking for a full fibre solution for the Island's properties, as the existing broadband couldn't offer the speeds, choice and fibre future proofing they were looking for.   

They had spoken to a number of internet service providers (ISPs) but wanted one single installation; luckily, one of the directors was aware of a local building that had recently deployed 4Fibre technology – and was consequently cognisant of the benefits - most notably, one single installation, allowing access for up to four ISPs.

4Fibre's solution was presented to the board, who soon became aware of the need for only one installation - and that SCCIA could fire stop and certificate the work afterwards.

A 4Fibre access agreement was agreed with the freeholder, the project was surveyed, and a planning pack provided.

Once agreed, SCCIA implemented its 4Fibre solution, providing access for up to four ISPs, each with their own dedicated fibre cable installed through only one penetration of each wall / floor / flat.

A key part of the 4Fibre remit was a neat and tidy, low visual impact installation that would be signed off as not affecting the fire stop compliance of the building.

The work involved the cutting of holes in ceilings with access hatches for cabling, and the termination of a point of entry box just inside each apartment's front door (where access was granted) and just outside, where access was not granted by the resident.

4Fibre's system provides a low carbon footprint solution, allowing fully independent access for up to 4 full fibre broadband ISPs, to all 173 apartments and 20 riverside houses.

The Delivery

With the aesthetics of the development in mind, and in accordance with a brief of an aesthetically acceptable low visibility solution - SCCIA opted to implement an internal installation with cables installed via the ceiling void.

After identifying suitable locations for the five main distribution cabinets, SCCIA ran multi-fibre cables to every apartment & house.

Cables were terminated and spliced to the POE just inside the apartments and to the store room of each house, ready for the ISPs to connect through to the consumer premise equipment (CPE) in each property, when the resident takes service.

The Conclusion

The system provides fully independent access of up to four full fibre broadband ISPs – connected 'all the way' to 193 dwellings.

Any ISP wishing to service the property, can do so easily, without running any cables through the common areas.

All distribution cabling from the 5 DPs is linked back to a single 'meet me' box for each provider in the telecoms room, from where up to four ISPs can service all 193 dwellings without running another cable.

On completion of the installation, all firestopping has been completed and certified, with the certificate and photos provided in the O&M

Stephen Browne, from Brentford Lock Island Residents Association was delighted with the work done:

"The Island presents various challenges for any cabling project: rows of houses with very limited in-ground access that would only allow single new cabling access; typical multiple level apartment blocks with underground car park access; and an apartment block with no underground car park access.

Whilst the apartments allowed for relatively straight forward install, the houses didn’t and we wanted a common solution across the development to provide the same level of services to all residents.

Therefore the 4fibre option became a clear winner – one cable per residence, regardless of property type.

The major benefit is, we have quadrupled our fibre broadband capability and only had to experience one cabling project not four. A 75% reduction in risk where firestopping has to be breached to enable the install is a no brainer decision. In today’s post Grenfell world that is another huge benefit.

SCCi kept us informed of every step, set agreed dates and their teams completed every stage early, professionally managed any issue quickly, arriving at a solution before agreeing a way forward."