Electrical Contracting News (ECN) May 2016 | Page 22

PROJECT FOCUS

UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

STATISTICALLY PROVEN
A Category 6A installation at the University of Oxford’s Statistics building has utilised cable containment
solutions from Marco throughout. Russell Drury reports on the project, with a close look at the trend towards a
higher spec. install and the benefits to be gained from future proofing.

M

arco has worked
with Monard
Electrical
Contractors for
approximately
four years.
Monard has
utilised Marco’s
steel wire cable tray and uPVC trunking
products on many of its schemes, which
are based largely throughout the South
East. The firm has a strong presence in the
area and has carved a sound reputation
as a supplier to both the higher education

and heritage building sectors. The firm
has worked for Oxford University for
many years, the latest building being the
Statistics building in St Giles.
The building was formerly used to house
the university’s Mathematics department.
Although not listed, the building was built
in the mid-1960s so a sympathetic and
wide scale refurbishment was needed.
Strict scheduling meant that that the
Monard team had to work alongside
other main trades within a seven month
programme. The first major Category 6A
installation for Monard, the contractor

worked with Marco’s cable tray and
trunking to meet the specification.
Richard Francis, project manager at
Monard, says, ‘Monard Electrical has
a strong background and extensive
experience working within the higher
education and listed building sectors and
has been involved with many university
projects through the years.
‘This has been an interesting project
for us in that it’s our first major Category
6A installation. The building was pretty
vast and the new containment had to run
throughout the entire building. Due to

the nature of the department, high levels
of data/bandwidth was essential. In the
basement alone, which will be used as IT
teaching space, there will be capacity for
up to 50 computers as well as various
AV equipment.’
Richard continues, ‘We have developed
a great working relationship with Marco
and have used their products for Category
6A installs in the past but never on this
scale. Our guys are comfortable and
confident in working with the Marco
products and we knew that specifying
Marco was a good choice.’

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