A HULL data cabling company has beaten off national competition and been awarded a £200,000 contract to create a 21st Century learning environment at one of the city’s most prestigious schools.
Paragon Data Services (PDS) will install the comprehensive data network across the new eight-storey home of Hull Trinity House Academy in George Street, city centre.
The contract comes as part of a £10m redevelopment of the school under the city’s flagship Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.
Iain Bland, PDS’s managing director, said: “We’ve already had a fantastic start to 2013 and this has made it even better – we’re really pleased to be involved in a project such as BSF.
“We’ve worked on several other schemes as part of this project but are very happy to working with Houlton at Hull Trinity House – we will build a comprehensive LAN network which is at the cutting edge of design, is user friendly and is future proof.
“The academy has a proud heritage of achievement and we will be working with that ethos in mind when we install this network which will help teachers and students alike.”
PDS will install a new Category 6 cabling system along with a Cisco gigabit managed network including wireless & Unified communications across the eight floors of the former University of Lincoln building which will bring all the academy’s IT under one, user-friendly interface.
PDS will also be responsible for installing the public address systems and also the infrastructure to accommodate cashless catering, cashless vending machines, access and entry points and CCTV.
Mr Bland said: “This is a total network solution for the academy which means everything will be managed under one system, from email through to internet access in classrooms though to the safe and secure administration of dinner money and all other matters within the school – it will be entirely fit for 21st Century teaching and learning.”
PDS’s designers have been working closely with representatives from the school, Hull City Council’s BSF team, staff from Hull Esteem Consortium – which is the company chosen by the council to build 19 new schools under the scheme – and the national academy advisory body, the School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA).
PDS, which has its headquarters at the Geneva Way Business Park in Leads Road, east Hull, has signed the contract and will complete the work in less than three months ahead of the school opening in September.
Mr Bland said: “Hull is a great place to be running a business at the moment. There have been a few tough years for many people and businesses but 2013 is already looking like a great year for us and for others.
“We’re proud to be from the city and although we now have contacts across the UK and as far away as China, it is always nice to be able to work on projects in your home town.”
Hull Trinity House Academy is being built by Hull-based construction firm Houlton, which has been awarded the multi-million pound contract by the Hull Esteem Consortium.
James Townend, project manager for Houlton, said: “PDS has a fantastic reputation both locally and nationally and we are pleased to be able to appoint them to this job.
“We made a commitment, as everyone did as part of the BSF programme, to use local labour and companies wherever possible and here we see that commitment in practice.
“PDS is a fantastic partner for us and the school will benefit a great deal from the company’s expertise and understanding of their needs. PDS has worked extremely closely with all partners working closely with the school across every element of this project will prove to have been key in creating excellent opportunities for hundreds of students in the years to come.”
PDS provides its services across Yorkshire and as far afield as Europe and Asia. The company specialises in installing structured network and data cabling solutions and provides services to install new public address systems, CCTV, door access and audio visual solutions for a broad range of applications.
