Imperial Centre for Translational and Experimental Medicine

Keeping a site live and kicking.

Block L, Hammersmith Hospital is a new six-storey building on Imperial College London’s Hammersmith Campus. It houses the university’s biomedical research, and consists of laboratories, offices, and support spaces.

A live environment.

One of our key challenges was to maintain normal IT services and operations for the existing hospital campus. This was particularly complex as the construction of the new block meant demolishing current buildings and diverting live infrastructure on a severely restricted – and still operational – hospital site. We coordinated the active equipment and services during the enabling works phase and designed the fibre ‘backbone’ and horizontal copper cabling for the voice and data systems.

Research-driven approach.

This was a highly complex project – and we needed to make sure we had a comprehensive understanding of the situation in order to deliver the best solution. We began site investigations immediately, so that we could verify record information and document the scope of the existing installations. This was followed by meticulous planning and programming of the enabling works.

During the enabling stage – our onsite experience and know-how ensured that any significant risks to the continuity of the site IT services were fully understood. We put mitigation measures in place to support sensitive operations and areas. Our solution was designed to be fail safe; a Cat 6A network infrastructure maintained resilience and interconnectivity to the campus buildings both during the enabling and construction works. Throughout, our communication skills and collaborative working ensured the client was kept fully informed of the options for each decision – and was happy with the end result.