ITS Supports London Borough of Havering with Next Generation Connectivity

London Borough of Havering and ITS Technology Group have successfully completed a transformative, full fibre installation project, positioning Havering as a connectivity leader. The project, driven by a joint vision to enhance the region’s appeal for investment and business development, features a future-proof 10Gbps network, addressing the main connectivity challenges in Havering. The initiative is set to draw significant inward investment opportunities, improve productivity, and achieve critical levelling-up objectives while benefitting both the initial public sector buildings and the local business community.

“The collaboration between public and private sectors, targeting 48 public buildings, has evolved into a scalable model, fostering digital confidence and inclusivity within Havering.”

Background

In April 2019, the Local London Partnership secured £7.7m in funding from the Strategic Investment Pot. Havering was allocated £800,000 from this fund. This was subsequently increased by an additional £222,000 by the GLA using funds obtained from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Havering, home to vital industries like automotive and manufacturing, suffered from slow and patchy connectivity, holding some of the biggest brand names back from competing on the national stage.

Due to the difficult physical connectivity infrastructure in the region, Havering was far behind the digital transformation curve, making it difficult for private and public sector organisations to make their mark on London’s economy. With such close proximity to the financial hub, poor connectivity was one of the standout features holding the local authority back from reaching its full potential. ITS’s unwavering commitment to shared values, proactivity, and dedication to Havering’s success have been pivotal in nurturing a fruitful relationship with the local authority.

With a fully 10Gbps-enabled full fibre network, the project has strengthened the connectivity infrastructure and laid the groundwork for a more digitally inclusive, empowered era in Havering. With the future of upgradability, boundless innovation opportunities, and a roadmap for future commerce and investment made possible with full fibre, Havering has positioned itself as a key economic player on the London stage.

Connectivity challenges

Pre-bid, Havering relied on slower hybrid fibre to the cabinet (FTTC), which fails to deliver next-generation speeds to the user. FTTC uses a mixture of fibre and traditional copper, offering only 80Mbps download, and 20Mbps upload. With a lack of access to full fibre broadband, connectivity challenges affected industries like oil and gas, nuclear, manufacturing, automotive, chemical, energy from waste, and power generation.

Recognising the limitation to productivity and inward investment, havering sought a transformative to address common connectivity issues.

The Rainham area has suffered from poor physical connections to the wider economic centre. Therefore, prioritising business connectivity in public sector buildings and private organisations to harness remote collaboration opportunities to become a more agile and future-focused centre has been a regional priority.

Collaboration and Bid Success

ITS joined the project following a successful procurement bid for the tender. The team knew that close collaboration was the key to finding a solution that worked to achieve Havering’s ambitious business and public sector development goals. Pillared by honesty, transparency and trust, the collaboration was underpinned by a mutual goal to see Havering transform into a digital success story.

However, working with the local authority has transcended putting the UK’s leading business-grade fibre in the ground. ITS has used the initial bid to focus on a close private and public sector collaboration by engaging with the local business community through event sponsorship and digital inclusion-based events.

One of the standout features of this project has been the mutual agreement of keeping promises and delivering on time to ensure that the Havering business community has access to a businessgrade network, just in time for the 2027 digital switchover. With a shared value of getting work done correctly, Havering and ITS forged an alliance that’s expected to deliver positive rewards for both public services and private businesses for many years to come.

The strategy

The fundamental strategic industrial locations within Havering are set to benefit most from the project. With some nationally recognised brands within the region, implementing a full fibre, gigabit-capable network stands to help businesses innovate with bandwidth-hungry technology. From a public sector perspective, a full fibre network is going to help further support levelling-up agendas, with authorities now having the connectivity tools they need to further smart city initiatives. While the take up of the commercial fibre will be the key performance indicator, better connectivity and download speeds will give the region a major boost and show that ITS keeps its promises to elevate authorities to the level they deserve

The result

Havering notes that ITS has been a standout connectivity provider thanks to their regard for a deeply embedded collaborative relationship. The borough expects industries like light manufacturing and logistics to benefit the most from faster business fibre speeds – harnessing bandwidth-hungry devices need to process real-time data, streamline processes, and propel themselves into the ever-evolving future of commerce.

Additionally, GPs, council offices, schools and libraries across Havering can now access a network that works with them, not against them. Healthcare facilities in Havering alone can step into the future of patient experience and tap into telemedicine to improve CQC ratings, which, as of February 2023, were regarded as ‘requiring improvement’. With resources so stretched in the borough, full fibre offers healthcare facilities in Havering the means to optimise resource management, respond in record time and improve patient data management. As a result of this successful project, ITS and Havering continue their close relationship to deliver rich social value initiatives designed to uplift the community.

ITS has engaged in volunteering opportunities in the local libraries, to provide vital digital skills workshops to those in need. This is a testament that the project’s results extend far beyond just the introduction of robust, reliable connectivity.

Havering trusted ITS to keep its promises to the very end, and with a shared ambition to elevate the region’s thriving retail, manufacturing and professional services businesses, the new network makes Havering one of the best-connected boroughs in the UK.

Meet the stakeholders

“It has been great to work in genuine collaboration with ITS, delivering simplified connectivity with scope for future growth for our own corporate needs while at the same time adding much-needed capacity for our high-growth local economy. Their experience and insight have been invaluable.”

Councillor Graham Williamson, Cabinet Lead for Development and Regeneration, London Borough of Havering

“The collaboration between ITS and Havering is a true testament to both the Borough’s and ITS’ shared ambition to make a more digitally inclusive, confident UK. We know that public and private sector collaboration hasn’t always been easy, so the work ITS has done to put this infrastructure in place while driving social value initiatives is remarkable. We can’t wait to see what’s next for this relationship and help to create a better-connected Havering.”

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