Care in the community

Staff running the Royal Star and Garter charity’s new £7.5 million, 60-bedroom care home currently under construction in Solihull, Birmingham, can have confidence that the data and communications network is resilient enough to function efficiently for at least 25 years.

Supported by a manufacturer’s warranty, the Ortronics Clarity patch panels, outlets and cables for data networking and telecommunications at the care home were installed by m&e contractor Prolec (UK), a certified installer for Ortronics data infrastructure products.

As well as ensuring peace of mind for the Royal Star and Garter charity, this also enables Prolec to boost the service it offers its customers by effectively providing a single source of supply.

Prolec’s projects manager, Damian Parker, explains: “We already offer a broad range of mechanical and electrical services, including heating, ventilating and air-conditioning installation, and it made strong business sense to expand our expertise to include data installation, since more and more projects require this service too.

“The alternative would have been to employ a data installation subcontractor, and we did not want to do that. That is essentially why we became an Ortronics-approved contractor.”

As a result of certification with Ortronics, Prolec has been able to offer this complete service for the Royal Star and Garter charity project involving the construction of its new Solihull care home.

This includes Ortronics’ Clarity range. Clarity is a robust and reliable Category 6 and Category 5e connectivity system. Synchronised Clarity components create optimally tuned connector unions for heightened performance beyond the standards, claims Ortronics.

The care home, which is due to open this summer, is the first in a series of homes that are planned by the charity, to provide specialist care for elderly disabled ex-services people.

Planning permission for the new home was granted in June 2006.

Construction began in February 2007, and the building was topped out in September of that year by the charity’s vice-president, Falklands War hero Simon Weston.

The multimillion-pound building on Monkspath Hall Road will incorporate a number of facilities, including a cafe and bar, dining room, hair and beauty salon and special therapy room, with staff on hand seven days a week providing 24-hour care for residents.

Prolec is responsible for all the hvac services in the two-storey building, including underfloor heating, domestic hot water services, air-handling units for ventilation, building management system controls and rainwater pipes.

It made strong business sense to expand our expertise to include data installation, since more and more projects require this service

However, by gaining certification with Ortronics, the company was able to extend its service to include installation of a structured cabling system and connections for the telephones and data outlets, including personal computers.

Andrew Birch, country manager – UK, Ireland, Scandinavia for Ortronics, says: “The basic principles of electrical installation are identical to those of data installation, and qualified electrical contractors will already possess much of the knowledge they need to install a data cabling system.

“And, simply by making one extra small investment in training, they can open up a far greater number of business prospects. Indeed, we are already witnessing this, with many electrical contracting companies starting to form data divisions.

“By gaining certification from a progressive manufacturer with a strong reputation, a contractor is not only able to guarantee that it can install data cabling to a high standard, but also it is often able to offer an extended warranty – in the case of Ortronics’ certified installers it could be up to 25 years.

“This offers peace of mind to the end-user that they will work.”

Prolec’s Damien Parker sees future benefits from its partnership with Ortronics too.

“Ortronics will assess our work during each project and sign it off at the end to say that it is installed to its standard. This protects the end-user from having to pay out money because of poor installation.”

Andrew Birch adds: “Our installers are our front line. Five or 10 years down the line, if there are any problems, few people will remember who installed the products. Rather, by looking at the faceplate they will see our name and automatically associate us with the fault.

“By ensuring that the installers are certified, we can be confident that the installation is of the highest possible quality, and this reduces the risk of future faults.”

The Royal Star and Garter charity has been caring for disabled ex-services personnel since its foundation in 1916. For decades it has run a home in Richmond, Surrey, which offers nursing and therapeutic care for anyone who is physically disabled or incapacitated and has served in Her Majesty’s Forces, and also to their spouses and partners.

The charity also promotes a wide variety of leisure activities for residents, both internally and at outside venues.

The architect for the charity’s Solihull project is Scurr & Partners, and the contractor is Morgan Ashurst, formerly Bluestone.