I joined Kelly Group on 6th October 1992 and recently celebrated my 30th work anniversary – I spent half of my life working for Kelly Group. I started my journey as a cable puller on the cable tv networks through to installation working on our Bell Cablemedia contract in Becton. I later migrated closer to home at Croydon and worked on the Group’s Telewest cable project.
There was a very interesting project that not many people know about, and I had the pleasure to work on it; we got involved in a brewery installation project with a company called Innserve, who was a maintenance and technical support company working in partnership with Heineken producing UK products. This project involved 10 engineers working in the South of England installing pub equipment.
I later joined the Openreach project and have been working on it ever since. As Head of Operations, I am currently responsible for Openreach small projects – network delivery which includes three main projects: national battery replacement programme, DNO (Distribution Network Operators) projects and MDU (Multi Dwelling Units) projects. Since the inception of these projects, we have maintained a strong work ethic and excellent client relationship to this day.
During my time on the Openreach contract, there have been many interesting small projects in the past that I had the opportunity to get involved in, such as installing fibre to over 200 National Trust heritage sites around the UK. Other famous National Trust heritage sites that our engineers have completed installations for include Stonehenge, Powis Castle and Lindisfarne Castle at The Holly Island of Lindisfarne. Another interesting job was our Fibre to School project - in 2019 our Kelly Group engineers installed fibre to the most western school in Wales, which due to the execution of a successful but difficult installation, was featured in an Openreach case study.
Nationwide Battery Replacement Programme
The Battery Replacement Programme’s scope of work includes UK-based backup battery replacement infrastructure. We currently have a small team of 8 engineers completing battery replacements nationwide. Works commenced in 2014 and it’s been a very successful project. The Group has a small and niche group of engineers working on the project.
We’ve completed approximately 67,000 installations within cabinets since 2014 – these include the replacement of those batteries which needed replacement again after the initial completion.
We’re proud of our engineers who all completed the newly introduced safety modules, meeting Openreach’s new training requirements, which seen us become the first fully qualified team in the market.
DNO (Distribution Network Operators) Project
Kelly Group’s Distribution Network Operators (DNO) is another remarkable project and not many people know it exists. Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) are energy suppliers around the UK who have a contract with Openreach, to install some of their network infrastructure on poles, which carry low voltage lines.
Through a new safety programme, network operators identify de-poles (defective poles), which need replacement due to safety concerns and install a new pole directly adjacent to the old one, they then notify Openreach requiring them to transfer their equipment over to the new pole. Openreach conducts a list of new poles and their locations and that’s when Kelly Group engineers step in and complete the equipment transfer. Our skilled engineers are working towards KPIs and time scales ensuring the equipment is transferred and danger is eliminated.
MDU Projects Contract Awards
We’re delighted to have been awarded a contract extension for our MDU fibre provision and network delivery contract. The scope of work includes providing fibre from the network pickup point outside the property and introducing fibre into the building by installing a fibre DP (Distribution Point) at the bottom of the base and running fibre services outside of every residential door. Our previous contract commenced in 2018 covering Northwest of England, and Scotland, which went to tender this year, however, through the new contract award we have been granted the biggest chunk of the contract in the UK covering the Northwest, Northeast and Southeast of England and the West outer of London. It’s a 2.5-year contract which commenced on the 1st of October 2022 and we’re looking to engage 60-70 gangs next year. We’re currently preparing for an aggressive transition plan with Openreach, and our recruitment and HR teams are currently working on a ramp-up plan to deliver resources in preparation for the upcoming workload.
I’m delighted with the news and firmly believe this will provide career progression opportunities for service delivery engineers across the Group.
This project is expected to finish in 2025 however, we’re further discovering different contracts and opportunities within the MDU market. MDU training will commence across Kelly Group’s National Training Facilities in Nuneaton and St Helens and eventually Brimsdown providing national training coverage.
- Steve Owen (Head of Operations)
