Securing critical connectivity

Arqiva provides infrastructure and services for television and radio channels in the UK and internationally. Its Chalfont Grove Media Centre at Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire is one of a thousand Arqiva sites transmitting satellite and telecommunications all over the country.

Arqiva’s Chalfont Grove facility has a history of failures or faults with the main power supply equipment. Any disturbance in supply results in service failures and disruption. L.B Foster’s specialist Telecoms division was brought in by principal contractor RTK Instruments Ltd, to install a system with the capability to monitor all supplies and equipment to eliminate failures and improve response times.

Neil Sheffield, Managing Director, L.B. Foster Telecoms, says: “Our remit was to design, supply, install and commission a new site-wide Supervisory and Control Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, including a sophisticated, integrated monitoring suite for checking substations, transformers and other electrical assets. “Understanding the scope of this project was key to its success. At the start, we undertook an evaluation of the existing systems due for replacement. Our design team recognised that these could be re-engineered and integrated with the new system that we were installing. This delivered significant cost reductions and simplified the new installation from a total replacement to a less disruptive system modification.”

The cost savings identified by the team at L.B. Foster Telecoms demonstrated true initiative and value engineering. Identifying that the existing systems could be upgraded and integrated into the new solution meant that we were able to go back to Arqiva with good news about costs. It was this sort of blue sky innovation that shaped our positive relationship with the L.B. Foster Telecoms’ team.