Australia National University

Project Description

Living on campus adds a whole new dimension to the student experience at Australia National University (ANU).

Ranked first in Australia, this leading University attracts a high volume of domestic and international students, leading to ever-growing demand for on-campus housing. Student Accommodation 5 is a 500-bed residence and ANU’s latest addition to its campus landscape.

To cater to both current and future needs of an increasingly multicultural student population, a high-performing, future-proof communications network was required.

Programmed, as one of ANU’s preferred contractors, were commissioned to install these communication services to Student Accomodation 5’s 500 accommodation rooms including all associated breakout and administration areas.

Project Solution

An exceptionally wet winter coinciding with the installation was an unexpected challenge. Additionally, there were other third party trades working on-site. As such, careful consideration with regards to both weather and the other trades were essential. A flexible work approach was essential too as cable support infrastructures and conduit routes needed to be established or altered accordingly throughout the construction program.

Programmed was also able to assist the University’s security contractor when they encountered challenges with external security cameras which sat beyond the transmission range of the Power over Ethernet (PoE) platform they operated on. We were able to apply our broad knowledge and expertise to overcome this by helping to design and implement a powered fibre solution which enabled the external security cameras to function as required.

During the construction process, it was further discovered that the building materials used to separate each room had created an inadvertent barrier to radio frequency signals. As a result, our scope of works were expanded to include installation of Wireless access points in each room.

Project Outcome

Student Accomodation 5 now boasts a fully compliant Molex Cat6 network, an installation that enables the University to bolster its offering to students for world-renown academic qualifications with a well-rounded social life that involves superior connectivity to the world beyond.