Health & Safety Laboratories

• Provision of a complete IT infrastructure worth £1.65m for the new build HSL offices.
• Consultancy for HSL’s IT requirements from its central IT infrastructure to telephony network and emerging technologies
• Project included full voice and data connectivity for the temporary accommodation
• Managed Services contract for voice, desktop and software for seven and a half years.

Health & Safety Laboratories Case Study

"We are confident that not only will we be handling management of the network over to the company that built it, but to a company who is committed to the success of this project."

Christophe Duale, Project Manager, Interserve fm

HSL is Britain’s leading health and safety laboratory; it operates as an agency of the Government’s Health and Safety Executive, providing research, scientific support and investigative work into workplace accidents and work-related diseases. Under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract, a new £56.5 million development will join together HSL’s current operations at Sheffield and Buxton into one single modern site. This extensive site at Harpur Hill, near Buxton allows for large-scale experiments for engineering, fire, explosions and process hazards.

The new facility will be made up of corporate offices, analytical laboratories, an engineering test hall and contained experimental laboratories.

IT Infrastructure

The new state of the art laboratory also includes a complete IT infrastructure worth £1.65 million provided by Pinacl Solutions. From the beginning, Pinacl Solutions has provided consultative advice on HSL’s IT requirements, ranging from its central IT infrastructure to advising on the type of telephony network required to support future and emerging technologies. Pinacl Solutions has also assisted in the delivery of an enabling programme, moving HSL’s staff from their existing buildings to other existing and new temporary buildings, to allow demolition works within the “new facility” footprint.

This involved the provision of a new site-wide fibre and voice infrastructure to ensure that all retained buildings and temporary accommodation keep its voice and data service throughout the project.

Pinacl Solutions was appointed as IT partner by Shepherd Engineering Services (SES), which is delivering the £21 million Mechanical and Electrical service of the project. Commenting on why SES chose to work with Pinacl Solutions, Ken Lawson, SES Unit Manager said: “We have worked with Pinacl Solutions on a number of projects in the past and have a great respect for their commitment and ability to deliver to schedule. They were the obvious candidate to partner with us to offer consultancy and the delivery of HSL’s IT requirements.”

Managed Services

On the completion of new building, Pinacl Solutions will continue to facilitate the management of the IT infrastructure and provide HSL with voice, desktop and software services over a period of seven and a half years. The overall contract for the facilities management of the building is to be handled by Interserve fm.

Pinacl Solutions will be based on site at Buxton for the duration of the project term. It will be in charge of managing and maintaining HSL’s core IT network, desktop support, applications administration, users support, hardware maintenance and moves and changes. It will also be providing voice services such as PBX, handsets and pagers supported by a dedicated IT help desk.

Commenting on Pinacl Solutions’ appointment, Christophe Duale, Project Manager, Interserve fm said: “We are pleased to be working with Pinacl Solutions as they have demonstrated outstanding commitment to this entire project from the outset. They have also been on site providing the building’s network infrastructure on behalf of Shepherd Engineering Services. We are confident that not only will we be handling management of the network over to the company that built it, but to a company who is committed to the success of this project.”

David O’Brien, Service Delivery and Operations Director, Pinacl Solutions said: “This is a key contract for us as it demonstrates our ability to work closely with partners on different aspects of the same PFI contract, while always maintaining HSL’s best interests.” He continues: “HSL made the decision to outsource its IT requirements so that it could remain focused on its core business objective. We will be providing HSL with a structured IT service which will provide high levels of reliability."