x
Henderson Investors is part of the Australian Financial Services Group AMP (Australian Mutual Provident). The group is in the midst of implementing an accommodation strategy across the buildings it now occupies in London. Flexibility is key to the strategy which will provide the business groups of AMP – Cogent, NPI and Henderson – with access to all the IT resources they require, wherever they are located in the future. Refurbishment of 4, Broadgate is integral to that strategy.
„The building is cabled for maximum occupancy, and designed so that desks can be positioned anywhere”, explains Fred Kinahan, Director of Facilities at Henderson Investors. “Any floor can be securely segregated. This scheme has enabled us to pre-cable future expansion areas that may be sublet in the short term. When we require this accommodation it will simply be a matter of reconnecting the backbone links to the floor. This can be achieved easily and without any disruption to the existing network.”
In the refurbished offices, floor boxes have been installed at a density of one per 10 metres2. Each box, which contains ten Category 5e outlets and three power outlets, can be repositioned anywhere within a five metre radius achieving total coverage of the floor space. There are approximately 1800 outlets per floor, a provision that allows a density of occupation more than three times the predicted level.
Fred Kinahan puts the business case for the Henderson Investors’ approach: „The initial cost of flood-wiring is obviously greater, but in the long term, the savings are significant. To complete all the work now while the space is unoccupied means we avoid the disruption in the future. It is far more difficult to make changes when offices are operational. Apart from the fact that there are very limited times when the work can be carried out, adjustments can create risk to the business operational environment. In our analysis, the approach we have adopted here at 4 Broadgate is costing us 50% less per point than it would if we were to opt for a less comprehensive cabling system and provide the additional capacity and adjustments as they are required. I expect to see the payback within two years.”
The system consists of a high-performance fibre backbone with Category 5e copper cabling to the voice and data points on each floor. Every floor has a wiring closet housing a fast Ethernet switch. Servers are housed in the new computer room on the ground floor. There is also access to servers on other sites, and to a range of newswire and other IT resources subscribed to by the company.
Jim Casey explains: „Cabling an unoccupied space allows us to work more quickly and efficiently than is ever possible after people have moved in. The project management provided by Fred Kinahan and his team, co-coordinating our work with that of the IT department and the other refurbishment contractors has helped us enormously.”
„I have relied on Lantel’s expertise and have been impressed with the quality of their work and their professionalism,” says Fred Kinahan. „The relationship between installer, manufacturer and us as client has worked very well. To have the work backed by the Molex warranty and to see the Molex technical services team down here on site auditing the installation inspires a high level of confidence.”
When the accommodation strategy is complete, AMP will have total flexibility throughout the organisation. Fred Kinahan again: “Our London buildings are connected by high capacity 1000MgHz links, so access to servers between sites is not a problem. In the future, it won’t matter where the servers are located. We will have complete flexibility to optimise our accommodation to suit our business strategy.”
