Communal Fibre TV System – Hindhead

When Thakeham, a local developer who specialises in high-quality new homes across Sussex, Hampshire, and Surrey, approached Briant Communications in 2013, they had a vision of building a beautiful development in a beautiful location in Hindhead, Surrey.

One issue surrounding Thakeham, along with numerous high-quality specialist builders, is how to keep the beautiful development, remain beautiful when people move in, and bring with them the day-to-day items that can distract from the ascetics of such developments.

One key thought from the management at Thakeham was how do we ensure that the site is not distracted from when residents install their Aerials and Sky/Satellite dishes when they move in, without trying to micro-manage the site and the residents, telling them: “you can’t do this. you can’t do that”.

We sat down with them, looked at architectural drawings for services that were being implemented within the walkways and roads of the site and introduced them to a Communal Fibre TV System.

This Communal Fibre TV System would run alongside all the services that would be introduced into each home as per normal but in an additional duct.

From a single Aerial and Satellite array, between 1 and 10,000 properties can be connected to the Communal Fibre TV System, therefore allowing everyone from the site the ability to connect to a completed TV system on the day they move in. Therefore managing the ascetics of the site, and offering another service to their purchasers, and giving Thakeham yet another USP (unique selling point) over their competition.

Services that were added to the Communal Fibre TV System at Hindhead for Thakeham were Freeview, FM, and DAB (Radio services both Analogue and Digital) and Satellite, which gave access to Sky and Freesat. The set up that Thakeham decided for was for the Lounge and Master Bedroom to have Freeview, FM/DAB and Sky Plus (2 Feeds) each and then all other Bedrooms and Kitchens to have Freeview, but with the ability for this to be completely customisable by the purchaser once they moved in.

Briant Communications in the autumn of 2015 ensured the site was completed, with all 20 properties within the Hindhead site connected to the Communal Fibre TV System, with the specifications that Thakeham and their architects set.

Are you a developer or architect that has these issues affecting you next development? We offer a free consultation on all Communal TV Systems. Please contact the office on 01273 465377 or contact us via email on enquiries@briantcomms.com

History of the Block

A managing agent from Worthing, West Sussex are property managers of a block in Worthing,  Wentworth Court, who continually had issues with the communal TV system.

The block was built in the 70’s where it was commonplace for cabling to be installed in a “tap” formation. Which cables were installed from the top down with a single cable would be installed it to the flat below, and then to subsequent flats until the ground floor.

The Issue

This installation practice does cause issues when homeowners change the outlet plate to decorative when they are decorating or refurbishing the home. If someone changes the plate this can cause issues both in the flat where the plate has been changed and all of those flats below the changed plate. Also as these cables have been cut into numerous times to “tap” out to the flats, the cable is valuable to failure.

Wentworth Courts communal TV system was affected by both issues, as well as residents wishing to have satellite services added to their communal system. Tapped systems cannot have satellite added to them as each property needs to be fed with an individual cable from the headend.

The Directors for the block were concerned that maintenance costs to repair these faults were adding up over the years and as the demographic of the block was becoming younger, they were requiring services such as Sky that previously had not been requested, and that a Communal TV System Upgrade was required.

Another issue was that Wentworth Court was 7 floors and away from the roadway and handstanding meaning that the installation couldn’t be completed by ladders or from a cherry picker.

The Solution

Briant Communications have IRATA trained rope access operatives that allows us to undertake even the most challenging of installations. Therefore we used a combination of ropes and ladders, and resources that would allow us to complete the job in a timely manner meant that Briant Communications were selected for the Communal TV System Upgrade.

The installation of a new communal system was completed in one day, with 4 Aerial Engineers present with 2 Labourers together with 2 Rope Technicians, with the job started at 7.00am and completed by 17.00, with all flats being supplied with 2 new cables from the headend located in the lift motor room. This allows each flat access to Sky/Sky HD+, Freeview, FM and DAB Radio.