Aim high with wi-fi

Squeezed into a tiny cabin on the 10th floor, next to the ladies toilets, I’m half way through a guided tour of one of the City’s supposedly most prestigious sites. Frankly, it’s turning out to be a little less glamorous than I had expected. This is the tower at 51 Lime Street, designed by Foster and Partners, and the project where Mace is implementing its vision of a wireless construction site.

We’ve just spent 10 minutes waiting for a lift. Painful as it was, the wait makes a good case for wi-fi. With 29 floors under construction, someone at the top of the building won’t want to wait for a lift to take them down to the site office to get an internet connection.

Mace’s aim is to allow anyone on site with either a laptop or PDA to have instant access to the latest drawings via their extranet. Mace’s assistant construction superintendent, Kim Frederico, and IT provider Building Zones managing director George Bartley have brought me here.

How it works

There’s not much theft here, but when you have 500 people
on site, you might be reluctant to bring in a laptop

Building Zones’ philosophy is to “provide technology services that change the way people use buildings”. The firm’s first project was at the British Library a few years ago, and it still maintains the system there that allows an average 3,000 people to log on daily.

But construction is different, and traditional means of providing internet access on construction sites is through structured cabling. This cabling needs to be moved at regular intervals as floors are added – which can be expensive and time consuming. With the wi-fi network there is an antenna that can be moved easily, as required, to extend the network. The installation of the wireless network is generally quicker than setting up cabling, which Building Zones says takes five days to do.

Both my guides are enthusiastic about the possibilities here, but there’s obviously a learning curve taking place. Bartley flinches as Frederico reels off a few problems:

• Housing – a special cabin had to be built to house the hardware which didn’t fit into standard cabins.
• Power – the electricity supply for the computer is different from the main building site, so the cabin had to be positioned near the cafeteria and toilets, where it could be connected to the electricity supply.
• Location – the cabin had to be a certain distance back from the perimeter of the building to avoid disturbing work on site, a less than ideal place in terms of signal strength.

An individual could end up paying more than £70 in just one day if they had to use their mobile phone to upload and download data

Now the system is up and running, with the main computer, keyboard, monitor and colour printer located inside the ‘information centre’. But there are still issues. “We obviously don’t want people looking at porn,” Frederico says. Bartley is quick to reassure her that usage is always monitored and it’s also possible to restrict access to websites. Individual passwords are issued, which means any inappropriate use of the internet can be traced. Usernames and passwords can be valid for one hour to one month.

Theft of the equipment is another worry for Frederico. “There’s not much theft here but when you have 500 people on site you might be reluctant to bring in a laptop,” she says.

It’s also a challenge getting people to make the most out of the service, she adds. “When the foundations were being laid, all of the workers were given training. But with so many subcontractors arriving as the site enters different stages of construction, it’s not practical to run these briefing sessions every day.”

We experience this first hand on site: our presence triggers some interest from a bewildered-looking man, who turns out to be working for cladding firm Schmidlin. He hovers behind us in his harness gear. “What is this? Can I have a go?” he asks.

Authorised staff can immediately see issues that might have a financial impact on the project or their business – in time to take action

We go inside the centre, where step-by-step guides on how to log on are displayed on the wall. The signal is weak but eventually – after 10 tense minutes we establish a connection. Bartley calls the office to confirm a relay antenna is on its way. Normally the signal is more powerful, Bartley assures me: “We get phone calls from companies nearby asking if they can log on to the network.”

The main signal is emitted from the site office on the second floor, so the relay will be placed on the sixth floor. Apparently the information centre has not been as busy since it was moved from the basement to the 10th floor last month. Frederico says even then it was accessed only about five times a day.

However, it looks set to come into its own once construction reaches new stages – and new heights. Frederico says. “It’s really difficult to get a signal with a mobile phone up at the top, so the higher the building, the more useful communicating via the internet will become.”

So, how much does this all cost? Bartley reckons Mace is paying just £70 a week for the service, and that includes the administration, set-up costs and a help line. An individual could pay more than this in just one day if they had to use their mobile phone to upload or download data, he reckons. The project manager usually supplies their own computer and printer.

After this pilot, Bartley says he’s looking forward to the run-up to the 2012 Olympics – mostly because Building Zones is already advising the London Borough of Newham on making the most out of its wi-fi networks

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