Introduction
Cranbury Park is a stately home and country estate with a rich history.
In the 18th Century, it was the home of Sir Isaac Newton, and in the 19th Century William Wordsworth wrote verse about a spring there.
For the last two hundred years, it has been the home of the Chamberlayne family, now the Chamberlayne-Macdonald family, whose members have included noteworthy politicians, sportspeople and military figures.
Situated near Winchester, the extensive grounds contain the Grade I listed house built in 1780, gardens and woodland, as well as various commercial and residential buildings and a Scout campsite.
Poor connectivity and the ageing copper network
“Connectivity. It’s either on or off, which is the ability to work full stop.”
With a mixture of commercial and residential units spread over a large area, Cranbury Park’s connectivity needs weren’t being met by the old and failing copper lines serving the property.
Tim Piper, the Estate Manager at Cranbury Park, explains, “We were getting 5 or 6 Mbps on a good day on the copper cables and every time it rained, it would stop. We couldn’t download, we wouldn’t have any chance of uploading anything. It was never down for days, but it could be knocked out for an afternoon.”
The slow and unreliable broadband got in the way of day-to-day business. Simple tasks like internet banking or sending and receiving email could become impossible for hours on end. The team were unable to use video conferencing or cloud-based applications. The business regularly needed to send, receive and store large files, but could not do so quickly or reliably.
“It’s really fundamental. The internet goes down. Ok, you probably cope with that for an afternoon, but we would miss emails and the whole business stops then, doesn’t it? Because a lot of our communications would be through email. It was happening more and more, and it was getting worse. So, we really needed to get this done.”
They were also aware that the businesses renting commercial space at Cranbury Park had similar connectivity needs and that units could become unlettable if their connection was not up to standard.
They had been “limping everything along” and working on a “make do and mend” basis, but it became clear that Cranbury Park’s broadband needed updating and upgrading.
Tim Piper felt that “in the five years leading up to this, it became more evident that we had a problem here.”
Fibre broadband
As fibre broadband was already available in the road, they hoped that BT Openreach could provide an effective solution. They requested a quote, but it rapidly became clear that BT Openreach’s proposal was very expensive and somewhat incomplete. The quote only covered a connection to the main house, leaving the other buildings on site stranded. There were also concerns that the way in which BT Openreach planned to lay the cable could cause problems in the future.
Cranbury Park needed a more bespoke solution that respected their site and responded to their needs.
A tailored solution
Cranbury Park retained HBTech to develop a custom solution that catered to the estate’s immediate needs as well as providing a resilient and adaptable infrastructure for potential future expansion. This tailored approach provided a better return on investment at a lower cost than BT Openreach’s much more limited proposal.
They discovered that, “For the same money as Openreach charge, we can go with HBTech and then we have control over the system and the ability in the future to make money back.”
The installation included a private cabinet to serve the estate and provide opportunities for expansion and additional connections in the future.
Rather than use the shallow mole plough technique favoured by BT Openreach (which would leave cabling more vulnerable), HBTech opted for more resilient ducting, providing better protection.
A combination of cabling and point to point Wi-Fi links were used to provide connectivity to buildings across the estate.
The team treated the buildings and grounds with respect, being careful to minimise any disruption or mess and avoid causing any damage. “In that sort of rural setting, HBTech and the civil engineering subcontractors were very sympathetic to the environment and to estate staff and the fact that they were working within that environment. And you’re also dealing with an office which is still trying to perform in the middle of that work going on.”
The project gave Cranbury Park everything they needed, and more. Tim Piper found that “for about the same price as Openreach quoted us we’ve got our own fibre connection which we can then chunk up and sell to other end users whether that’s residential or commercial. We should have more than enough for what we want to do in the future.”
Project management was a breeze
A bonus was the project management side of things, which Tim Piper appreciated, “I had one main point of contact, everything went through HBTech. From a project management point of view, I’m dealing with one person. It was actually straightforward. The crew were superb. And then it dialled into an infrastructure where we were already using HBTech, so they knew what we had there already. Everything just flowed really.”
“If something’s not going right then I’ve got pretty much direct contact with Trevor and HBTech and they’re straight out there. Whereas if you’re trying to battle through Openreach because they had a problem with their subcontractors it’s a different conversation.”
A more efficient way to work
Tim Piper feels that the new system has “brought us much more up to where we should be in terms of how modern business should be performing. We didn’t have those options before based on a on a copper telephone connection. So it really has been a game changer.”
“To be able to work remotely and access the cloud, that’s opened up opportunity. So that’s a huge plus.”
With a more reliable connection and more efficient ways of working available, the Cranbury Park team is now better able to respond to its clients’ needs. Tim Piper says it has a “knock-on effect in terms of the service we provide.”
The upgrade has taken them from 5 or 6 Mbps to a 1 gigabit line. As a result of the fibre connection, Cranbury Park has been able to move to a new telephone system, use cloud-based applications and hold meetings by videoconference where required.
“It gives you a lot of flexibility and choices within the system, which we didn’t have previously. The previous one was either on or off. That was it. And you were stuck with what you got.”
As well as supporting their own office needs, the upgrade makes their rental units much more attractive.
With fast speeds and ample bandwidth, Cranbury Park can now offer a winning combination of countryside and connectivity.
Tim Piper sums it up like this, “Extra connectivity means that you don’t have to be town centre based, you can sit here and look out at the view. If the speeds are there then why not be looking at that rather than fighting your way into central Southampton or Winchester or Eastleigh?”
Conclusion
Custom connectivity solutions target specific business needs, making them in many instances more cost-effective than standard options. They adapt as organisations grow, avoiding expensive upgrades. Plus, they integrate smoothly with existing systems, boosting efficiency.
Contact us if you have an up-coming project and find out how a bespoke solution could be a cost-effective choice for your business, better meeting your needs now and for the future.
