ICT In Construction

Delivering an ICT Programme into a construction environment has very specific and unique challenges not experienced in other delivery environments. Techsolve’s advisors have over thirty years each in delivering such programmes going back to buildings delivered before there was WiFi and network speeds to desks were 10mbs.

CGC Screen
City of Glasgow College, Riverside Campus, Reception Screen

Techsolve advisers have delivered or governed the delivery in a wide range of ICT programmes in construction including:

  • G8 Summit in Gleneagles 2005
  • BSF Pathfinder Wireless Network Installation 2006
  • Lancashire BSF, Birmingham BSF, Birmingham City University 2009-2012
  • Various Academies Projects 2012-2016
  • City of Glasgow College Riverside Campus & City Campus 2012-2015
  • intu Properties plc – Various refurb & upgrade engagements 2013-2020
  • The Exhibition Centre Aberdeen (P&J Live) 2019
  • University of Glasgow Advanced Research Centre 2020-2021

We align the ICT Design and Deployment to the RIBA Plan of Work 2020 ensuring that Spacial Coordination, Technical Design and Manufacturing & Construction are managed effectively dovetailing the construction and ICT programmes.

RIBA Plan of Work 2020 ICT Alignment
RIBA Plan of Work 2020 ICT Alignment

ICT High Level Design

Initially, unless very detailed Customer Requirements are provided, there is a necessary technical consultancy exercise to develop the outline customer requirements into a High Level Design for the Active ICT Infrastructure. 

This is best achieved in a collaborative approach with key stakeholders through a series of High Level Design Workshops. The workshops that are required will depend upon the specific demands of the building, the client and the level of development of the ICT Requirements. In some engagements it may be just a workshop covering wired and wireless networks in others there may been to be multiple, workshops teasing out the detail of the Requirements and the Solution. Techsolve’s process has a series of templated checklists which ensure we can avoid the normal issues which often slip through the gaps. The workshops often start with the organisation’s ICT Strategy and Roadmaps. It goes through use case analysis to explore how the environment is going to be used. And it looks at the levels of future flexibility and expansion that can be predicted for the buildings.

The High Level Design itself is the description of the required ICT infrastructure which allows someone skilled in the art to understand the hardware and services that will be required to make it work in the described environment.

Once the High Level Design has been completed it is often accompanied by other outputs of the process which ensure the future stages of Procurement, Low Level Design, Manufacture and Deployment are managed effectively.

University of Glasgow Advanced Research Centre by night.
  • Switch Calculation – a mathematical model predicting where chassis, switches, cards, optics and cables will be required.
  • Wireless Desktop Survey – a predicted wireless coverage map of the proposed site predicting the optimal placement of Wireless Access Points to optimise coverage.
  • ICT Programme – a Gantt chart tracking dependencies, outputs, milestones and activities documenting a critical path to key milestones in the deployment and handover.
  • Initial Site Acceptance Test Script – a baseline test script, which can the detailed further as the design matures, agreeing between the parties how the equipment can be successfully proven to meet the agreed Requirements.
  • Accommodation Readiness Checklist – the dependencies on the environment which must be met for the ICT equipment to be installed in the environment in a risk managed way.
  • Dependency Register – detail of the dependencies required by ICT and required of ICT, documenting how and when these will be achieved and which parties or individuals are responsible to ensure they are met.
  • Roles & Responsibilities Matrix – a definitive list of responsibilities and stakeholders of those responsibilities often presented in “RACI” format to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of their, and others’ responsibilities.
  • Bill of Materials – the definitive list of equipment, consumables, licenses, warranties and support packages required to achieve the High Level Design.
  • Quotation for Low Level Design
  • Quotation for Deployment & Testing

Next Steps

After the agreement of the High Level Design, the ICT Programme moves onto Procurement and Low Level Design.