The Langdale Estate is an award-winning 35-acre estate including a 57-bedroom hotel, 84 self-catering lodges together with two restaurants and bars, a traditional pub, plus extensive leisure and spa facilities, which dates back to the 17th century and one of the first resorts to have received the “Five Stars” rating from the English Tourist Board.
The Challenge
ISG technology was engaged to design, supply and install a high-speed LAN infrastructure throughout the 84 lodges in order to provide the best hospitality technology and serve the current and future voice, video and data requirements of the Estate. These requirements were to be used in the management of the site and to provide guest services to each lodge including high-speed Internet access (wired and wireless), FreeSat TV over fibre and future capability for IP Telephony, Utility Metering and Guest e-Services. Unique challenges exist within every project, especially when working in a large campus environment dating back hundreds of years. The main challenge of this project was providing new cable ducts to each of the 84 lodges across the 35-acre site to allow each lodge to be integrated into the network while keeping costs within budget for the client and without causing undue disruption to the site, the historic environment and the guests.
The Solutions
The project started with detailed site surveys, consultancy and design, followed by civil works, fibre optic installation, active equipment installation and finally commissioning and change-over, all of which took place while the site were fully operational and without disruption to the staff or guests. The results were converted into a detailed design incorporating the installation of inspection pits to the existing pipe work, installation of new duct routes to supplement the existing pipes and the provision of above-ground cable routes between lodges. The design for the active LAN was built around a core chassis in each of the two Main Communications Rooms. To provide internal connectivity within each lodge, a data cabinet was installed and fitted with an 8-port switch and a 54Mbps Wireless Access Point, therefore, providing wired and wireless access for all Ethernet-based services.
The Benefits
ISG technology has extensive experience working on large campus sites and sites of specific historic interest, therefore able to apply this experience to the Langdale Estate. The final solution surpassed the initial technical brief provided by the Langdale Estate and was delivered without disruption to the trading abilities of the Hotel and visual impact to the magnificent grounds throughout the estate. The Langdale Estate now has the IT infrastructure in place to serve its guests’ needs for many years to come.
