Finsbury Estate

The Development

Finsbury Estate, built in 1965 by Emberton, Franck & Tardrew for the former Finsbury Council, is a prominent High Modern housing development in Clerkenwell. It comprises 453 homes across four purpose-built residential blocks: Patrick Coman House (9 storeys), Michael Cliffe House (25 storeys), and the 4 storey Joseph Trotter, and Charles Townsend House.

The Challenge

As part of a broader strategy to address hard-to-reach MDUs, Islington Council commissioned a full 4Fibre deployment at Finsbury Estate. The brief was clear: deliver a single, resilient network that is discreet, compliant with building safety regulations, and future-proof—especially important on a site with two high-risk buildings and strict aesthetic and fire safety controls.

Finsbury Estate brought its fair share of logistical and technical hurdles, but through creative thinking and a hybrid delivery approach, 4Fibre designed and installed a bespoke, internally routed system using core drilling and containment to keep everything discreet, durable, and resident-friendly.

Facing stringent building controls, high fire safety standards, and ISP delays (Community Fibre, GNetwork, and Hyperoptic slowing rollout; VM02 and BT Openreach absent), 4Fibre was able to deliver a full-fibre setup capable of supporting four ISPs over a single shared infrastructure. Minimal disruption. Maximum value!

The Deployment

​Key to the ​​​​​success of the installation was careful planning and coordination with Islington Council. Rather than disrupt the estate with repeated civil works, 4Fibre agreed on a smart routing solution using the former underground car park to connect all blocks to a central meet-me point.

From this single hub, 14 distribution points were installed, feeding the entire estate. Points of entry were placed just outside residents' doors or balconies—making future ISP connections quick, tidy, and straightforward. Communal areas, including the concierge space, were also prewired to enable instant landlord service provisioning.

SCCI Alphatrack and 4Fibre handled it all: planning, liaison, drilling, containment, cabling, fire stopping, and final network testing. Not a cable out of place.

A key contributing factor to the success of the project was a deal brokered with Community Fibre (CFL), enabling them to deliver service from our newly installed MDU infrastructure straight into their existing network. This meant that within just two days of fibre reaching the site, the entire estate was live and fully serviceable—covering all 453 homes.

The Result

In just under 12 weeks, the work was complete. Every home at Finsbury Estate was connected to full-fibre, with zero cost to residents, managing agents, or the freeholder. The solution met fire safety regulations, protected the estate’s visual integrity, and required no repeat installations or disruptive ISP rewiring.

Finsbury Estate is now fully future-ready—proof that even the trickiest sites can be transformed with the right strategy, engineering, and partners in place.

The Summary

The Finsbury Estate project delivered on every front—boosting digital inclusion, reducing carbon impact, and future-proofing the estate with a single, clean installation that supports multiple ISPs. It protected both the look and structure of the buildings, met the highest fire safety standards, and avoided the mess of repeated installations.

No clutter. No compromise. Just fast, reliable fibre—done right. Proof that even the most complex estates can be brought fully up to speed with smart thinking and sharp execution.