Fibre deployed to MDU car park. Wayleave still required?

Hello again,

Just to recap, a couple of month ago our Freeholder got in touch with Openreach to provide wayleave but they said it wasn't the right time as our development had several blocks and they weren't looking to deploy yet.

To my surprise today, Openreach routed some hollow tubes to a man-hole in our car park. I asked the engineer if he will be installing the off-white colour fibre splitter box in the communal area and he said it wasn't necessary.

They connected the BT man-hole in our car park with the BT man-hole out on the street. Since the SDUs out there just had access to FTTH, this is a good sign I guess.

It wasn't the easiest to communicate with them but I was told that the tenants would be connected directly to the termination point under the man-hole cover. This raises 2 questions:

1) Does this mean a wayleave is no longer required from the landlord?

2) Was this piece of work (deploying to the man-hole in our private car park) done w/o a wayleave in the first place? Is it required in this situation?

I've attached 2 pictures for reference. Thanks again.


https://i.postimg.cc/4Nb7dcZF/1.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/YSgwr6Bv/2.jpg

Edited by squarecrumpets (Wed 23-Apr-25 18:28:42)

You sure they were Openreach contractors ?,
I’m not sure what that is they have coiled , (it’s nothing I’m familiar with ) presumably they are using whatever it is as a subduct ( a smaller duct within an Openreach duct , a pipe within a pipe ) or possibly BFT ( blown fibre tubing ) are you sure these weren’t working for an Alt Net , TBH , I wouldn’t be surprised if they said they were Openreach when they weren’t , like giving the wrong location details, if they break anything belonging to OR , they deny being in the area whereas correctly filled in location logs would place them at the scene of the crime …..they are definitely not OR direct labour.

If they have installed something into an Openreach jointbox , even if its in a car park , no extra wayleave is required for that , that is Openreach property , even if its on private land , it would be unusual to put (for example) a CBT in that jointbox to service units in the MDU , if there is a duct in that jointbox that surfaces in a utility area (for example) getting another cable from the utility area to an individual flat would almost certainly need access to common areas that need the management services or freeholder permission to access , whatever these people were doing it may simply just be preparatory work , I suspect it’s not actually for Openreach

Edited by Iniltous (Wed 23-Apr-25 16:33:57)

If there is already a wayleave in place as far as the manhole (which there would be for the copper services if they route that way) then they wouldn't need another.

Any wayleave in place may (or may not) include wiring in the building as well.

In reply to a post by Iniltous:

You sure they were Openreach contractors ?,
I’m not sure what that is they have coiled , (it’s nothing I’m familiar with ) presumably they are using whatever it is as a subduct ( a smaller duct within an Openreach duct , a pipe within a pipe ) or possibly BFT ( blown fibre tubing ) are you sure these weren’t working for an Alt Net , TBH , I wouldn’t be surprised if they said they were Openreach when they weren’t , like giving the wrong location details, if they break anything belonging to OR , they deny being in the area whereas correctly filled in location logs would place them at the scene of the crime …..they are definitely not OR direct labour.

If they have installed something into an Openreach jointbox , even if its in a car park , no extra wayleave is required for that , that is Openreach property , even if its on private land , it would be unusual to put (for example) a CBT in that jointbox to service units in the MDU , if there is a duct in that jointbox that surfaces in a utility area (for example) getting another cable from the utility area to an individual flat would almost certainly need access to common areas that need the management services or freeholder permission to access , whatever these people were doing it may simply just be preparatory work , I suspect it’s not actually for Openreach

Hmmm good point about who they really are. When I asked the guy he said BT, I then asked if they were Openreach and he said yes. I can't think of who else they may be because we don't have any altnets here. No Virgin HFC, i.e. no Virgin Media TV service etc. Under the man-hole cover there was already a bundle of copper cables for phone lines that connect to the individual flats so it's definitely owned by Openreach.

Furthermore, this man-hole and the one they connected to out on the street have BT marked on their covers.

There isn't a duct in the box that surfaces in a utility area. The copper cables just connect directly to the individual flats from there.

I hope it's Openreach preparatory work, because every SDU along my street and adjacent ones already have FTTH available.

Here's a closer picture showing an existing black connection thing under the man-hole that is almost certainly for copper phone lines:

https://i.postimg.cc/jj7t4K79/3-3200.jpg

Edited by squarecrumpets (Wed 23-Apr-25 18:30:02)

In reply to a post by JonRennie:

If there is already a wayleave in place as far as the manhole (which there would be for the copper services if they route that way) then they wouldn't need another.

Any wayleave in place may (or may not) include wiring in the building as well.

Thanks, this is what I suspected too. Providing wayleave isn't an issue as our landlord has been waiting for Openreach to reach the stage where they want it. I guess they'll need it once fibre has been laid to this man-hole. Today, they just laid a hollow tube for fibre.

Yep, my first thought was ‘they ain’t Openreach staff’ too

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Yep, my first thought was ‘they ain’t Openreach staff’ too

Ohh no!!!

If they are truly from an altnet, then they must have gotten permission from Openreach to use that man-hole cover I guess. No one else seems to be deploying to this area though. Virgin was seen running fibre along the main road but they don't cover our property right now.

Pretty every altnet you've ever heard of , and many you haven't, can use openreach ducts and poles to provide their network.

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

If they are truly from an altnet, then they must have gotten permission from Openreach to use that man-hole cover I guess. No one else seems to be deploying to this area though. Virgin was seen running fibre along the main road but they don't cover our property right now.

Anything for your area show up on Thinkbroadband’s roadworks map?
https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/broadband-map#...

Or if nothing showing, have a look at: https://one.network

Or even https://bidb.uk

That is indeed a copper universal clip joint.

Your first post mentioned that the workers said yes to being there for BT then Openreach … contractors for sure, just trying to say what they think will get you on your way ASAP