Project Snapshot

Client: University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (UHD)
Project Name: The BEACH – Women, Children & Emergency Centre
Completion: January 2025 (14-month duration)
Key Partners: W Portsmouth, IHP – SRM & VINCI (joint venture)
Our role (Sceptre Networking Limited): Delivering the data and fibre infrastructure for the new Women, Children & Emergency facility.

Within the transformative redevelopment of UHD’s hospital estate, the BEACH building stands as a flagship facility: a modern integrated hub delivering maternity, paediatric, emergency and critical care services under one roof. The scope demanded cutting-edge connectivity and resilient infrastructure to support clinical systems, high-speed data, voice, wireless and building management networks across a live hospital site. Our mission: design, supply, install and commission a comprehensive network infrastructure that meets performance demands and supports future growth.

Solution Highlights & Infrastructure Scope:

7,120 CommScope CAT6A F/FTP data outlets – a massive roll-out delivering high-density connectivity throughout clinical, support and admin zones.
Salt & Pepper Network Design – dual network architecture ensuring segregated paths for specialist clinical systems and general campus needs.
WLAN Deployment – 120 × Cisco Access Points – state-of-the-art wireless coverage across the facility, enabling mobility, digital workflows and IoT readiness.
7 cabinet locations, housing:
- 21 USystems Comms Racks – high-performance rack infrastructure with metered PDUs, cable management and future-proof capacity.
Blown fibre infrastructure:
- New 7-way and 4-way blown fibre containment tubes installed.
- Internal-diverse OS2 single-mode fibre installed to create high-speed backbone and resilient ring architecture.
Red Care Voice Network & BMS Standalone Fibre Network – dedicated network layers for critical communications and building management systems, ensuring reliability and separation from general data traffic.

Design & Build delivery – full turnkey infrastructure solution coordinated with main contractor and UHD estates team.

Why This Project Stands Out

The sheer scale: thousands of data outlets, a full blown-fibre backbone, wireless everywhere – this isn’t just connectivity, it’s a campus-wide digital nervous system.

Dual-network Salt & Pepper design alongside standalone voice and BMS networks: best-practice segmentation for performance and resilience.

Rapid delivery on a live hospital site in just 14 months — with minimal disruption to ongoing services.

Integration of future-proof technologies: blown fibre allows for massive expansion with minimal disruption; CAT6A F/FTP cabling with warranty coverage ensures long-term performance.

Collaboration spotlight: working closely with W Portsmouth and the IHP (SRM & VINCI) JV meant our infrastructure dovetailed with the broader building programme seamlessly.

Impact & Outcome

The completed BEACH facility now operates on a high-performance, resilient network backbone that supports every critical function: from image-rich diagnostics and emergency systems, through maternity and neonatal care, to building services and wireless mobility. The infrastructure delivers connectivity excellence as standard – enabling UHD to deliver world-class care today and scale as their digital future unfolds.

Special thanks to our principal collaborators – W Portsmouth and the IHP (specialising SRM & VINCI) joint venture – for their exceptional partnership, coordination and operational excellence. Their commitment enabled us to deliver this infrastructure on time, on budget and aligned fully with the facility’s mission.