"We're building in this area now" what's next?

Hello,

My postcode, an MDU has its status switched to "We're building in this area now" but there hasn't been any activity for over a month. Openreach has been given the wayleave.

Would anyone happen to know what sort of timeframes to expect before they deploy indoor?

Thank you.

Edited by squarecrumpets (Tue 09-Sep-25 10:02:59)

You may not see any visible activity for ages. Your property may not be included in the "area" of build. Even if you see them building today it could still be 6 months, a year or more before you could potentially connect.

Your best bet is to assume it will not be soon and if it suddenly becomes available then it is a bonus.

In reply to a post by ian72:

You may not see any visible activity for ages. Your property may not be included in the "area" of build. Even if you see them building today it could still be 6 months, a year or more before you could potentially connect.

Your best bet is to assume it will not be soon and if it suddenly becomes available then it is a bonus.

Ahh OK, thanks. What a shame....

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

Ahh OK, thanks. What a shame....

Just have to wait and see, here we had no plans and then all of a sudden it was here.
Is there no alternative network where you are?
I choose an alt network instead of Openreach, if there is none available where you are, then you just have to wait until something happens.

From the bottom of the checker webpage:

We're building in this area now

This means we’re already working to upgrade our broadband network to Full Fibre in your area and you may have seen our vans as our engineers work to upgrade our network.

And whilst our plans for this specific property aren’t confirmed yet, they could be soon as we’re aiming to reach 25 million homes and businesses by December 2026, and we’re continuing to build beyond that.

We’re building further and faster than any other broadband network in the UK.

If you register your interest, we’ll keep you updated and let you know as soon as Full Fibre is available - so you can upgrade to the UK’s most reliable broadband technology.

The status is an area status, it's not going to be customised to your building. If you have unresolved wayleave issues then they will remain unresolved.

That doesn't mean Openreach has been given the wayleave.

The checker is generic. See my post from last month in another similar thread as yours https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/t/4780364-re...

The thing is that's Openreach checker generically showing that they are building now. But I know very well that the wayleave hasn't been granted because if it has I would've received a letter or a topic would've been shown in the Housing Estate Management website particularly as it is an MDU just like in your case.

The only thing you can hope for is if you already had a wayleave agreed for another Altnet then there's a slightly stronger likelihood that a wayleave will be granted for Openreach.

But if you are still waiting for your first wayleave then that probability is low.

For example, we have Community Fibre here and a wayleave was granted in early 2021 but it went live in December 2022. So, I waited 20 months (1 year and 8 months) from the date that the wayleave was agreed to when the service went live!

Last year June 2024 Virgin Media wayleave agreed and the letter was showing 4 weeks to complete the estate! But I know that was false as it took several months for the buildings to go live except my own! I am still waiting for it and I asked my housing estate and they have no further clarity/information on whether they'll upgrade us or not despite a wayleave.

Wayleave doesn't always mean that they'll build for that specific building/premise. Openreach might ignore the build completely even after a wayleave has been granted! Or it could be delayed for much, much longer.

My psychological state at the moment is that I have 0% hope that Openreach will upgrade us to FTTP any time soon especially without a confirmed wayleave! I had my hopes up for VM, but now that feels dashed despite a wayleave. Don't be too excited or hopeful or you'll end up more frustrated. You have to mentally prepare for zero but hope for the best.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

Ahh OK, thanks. What a shame....

Just have to wait and see, here we had no plans and then all of a sudden it was here.
Is there no alternative network where you are?
I choose an alt network instead of Openreach, if there is none available where you are, then you just have to wait until something happens.

OK Thanks for sharing your experience. Was yours an MDU as well?
Nope no Altnets at all. Not even Virgin HFC.

Edited by squarecrumpets (Wed 10-Sep-25 12:10:59)

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

That doesn't mean Openreach has been given the wayleave.

The checker is generic. See my post from last month in another similar thread as yours https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/t/4780364-re...

The thing is that's Openreach checker generically showing that they are building now. But I know very well that the wayleave hasn't been granted because if it has I would've received a letter or a topic would've been shown in the Housing Estate Management website particularly as it is an MDU just like in your case.

The only thing you can hope for is if you already had a wayleave agreed for another Altnet then there's a slightly stronger likelihood that a wayleave will be granted for Openreach.

But if you are still waiting for your first wayleave then that probability is low.

For example, we have Community Fibre here and a wayleave was granted in early 2021 but it went live in December 2022. So, I waited 20 months (1 year and 8 months) from the date that the wayleave was agreed to when the service went live!

Last year June 2024 Virgin Media wayleave agreed and the letter was showing 4 weeks to complete the estate! But I know that was false as it took several months for the buildings to go live except my own! I am still waiting for it and I asked my housing estate and they have no further clarity/information on whether they'll upgrade us or not despite a wayleave.

Wayleave doesn't always mean that they'll build for that specific building/premise. Openreach might ignore the build completely even after a wayleave has been granted! Or it could be delayed for much, much longer.

My psychological state at the moment is that I have 0% hope that Openreach will upgrade us to FTTP any time soon especially without a confirmed wayleave! I had my hopes up for VM, but now that feels dashed despite a wayleave. Don't be too excited or hopeful or you'll end up more frustrated. You have to mentally prepare for zero but hope for the best.

We have given the wayleave to Openreach only. None of the other Altnets are looking to deploy to this MDU for now so there's no point giving it to them. So yes Openreach already has the wayleave.

In reply to a post by jpm:

The status is an area status, it's not going to be customised to your building. If you have unresolved wayleave issues then they will remain unresolved.

How is that so? Every building has its own postcode and they show different statuses when I enter them. I would have thought when it comes to MDUs they plan and deploy per postcode rather than area.

Thanks.

Some large MDU do have a postcode just for that MDU , presumably at some point the number of dwellings within it warrants the RM allocating a postcode just for the building, and TBH , if a building has 80+ units then it’s probably in line with the average number of properties contained within any postcode .
If the checker states ‘building now’ it’s not a guarantee of imminent deployment even more so when it’s a MDU , as stated their is this caveat ,

And whilst our plans for this specific property aren’t confirmed yet, they could be soon as we’re aiming to reach 25 million homes and businesses by December 2026, and we’re continuing to build beyond that.

It’s pointless anyone getting too excited about the changing status on a website, apart from the only really significant status , when it’s states FTTP is available to order , and the observant may well have noticed the actual network ‘build’ being done , a far better indication of availability than a website , and even an observation of local infrastructure being installed isn't an absolute guarantee of imminent availability.

Edited by Iniltous (Wed 10-Sep-25 12:46:53)

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

In reply to a post by jpm:

The status is an area status, it's not going to be customised to your building. If you have unresolved wayleave issues then they will remain unresolved.

How is that so? Every building has its own postcode and they show different statuses when I enter them. I would have thought when it comes to MDUs they plan and deploy per postcode rather than area.

Thanks.

Please see my post below quoting from the Openreach website. The explanations of the checker results are at the bottom of the results page.

It's an area status as there's nothing more specific for you yet.

And whilst our plans for this specific property aren’t confirmed yet, they could be soon as we’re aiming to reach 25 million homes and businesses by December 2026, and we’re continuing to build beyond that.

Thanks for pointing this out.

In reply to a post by XGS_Is_On:

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

In reply to a post by jpm:

The status is an area status, it's not going to be customised to your building. If you have unresolved wayleave issues then they will remain unresolved.

How is that so? Every building has its own postcode and they show different statuses when I enter them. I would have thought when it comes to MDUs they plan and deploy per postcode rather than area.

Thanks.

Please see my post below quoting from the Openreach website. The explanations of the checker results are at the bottom of the results page.

It's an area status as there's nothing more specific for you yet.

And whilst our plans for this specific property aren’t confirmed yet, they could be soon as we’re aiming to reach 25 million homes and businesses by December 2026, and we’re continuing to build beyond that.

Thanks for pointing this out. I feel our MDU is 'ahead of the rest' in this area for 2 reasons, 1stly wayleave has been provided. 2nd, the others didn't receive the automated Email saying they're now building in the area, only our postcode received them.

I guess time will tell, will have to wait for now.

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

Hello,

My postcode, an MDU has its status switched to "We're building in this area now" but there hasn't been any activity for over a month. Openreach has been given the wayleave.

Would anyone happen to know what sort of timeframes to expect before they deploy indoor?

To answer your original question and to be brutally honest, only Openreach and their contractors who may undertake the work can give you the answer you're looking for. Creating these sorts of threads each time the checker changes isn't going to change anything because every deployment is different.

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

Thanks for pointing this out. I feel our MDU is 'ahead of the rest' in this area for 2 reasons, 1stly wayleave has been provided. 2nd, the others didn't receive the automated Email saying they're now building in the area, only our postcode received them.

I guess time will tell, will have to wait for now.

If you have a wayleave in place then that means some discussion between the building owner/agent and Openreach has taken place, the people involved in that discussion are going to be the best source of information to the extent that you might as well ignore the website at this point.

In reply to a post by jpm:

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

Thanks for pointing this out. I feel our MDU is 'ahead of the rest' in this area for 2 reasons, 1stly wayleave has been provided. 2nd, the others didn't receive the automated Email saying they're now building in the area, only our postcode received them.

I guess time will tell, will have to wait for now.

If you have a wayleave in place then that means some discussion between the building owner/agent and Openreach has taken place, the people involved in that discussion are going to be the best source of information to the extent that you might as well ignore the website at this point.

Yup I agree. I was just trying to be a little autonomous as I didn't want to keep annoying the freeholder about this Yeah unfortunately the website isn't very verbose.

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

That doesn't mean Openreach has been given the wayleave.

The checker is generic. See my post from last month in another similar thread as yours https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/t/4780364-re...

The thing is that's Openreach checker generically showing that they are building now. But I know very well that the wayleave hasn't been granted because if it has I would've received a letter or a topic would've been shown in the Housing Estate Management website particularly as it is an MDU just like in your case.

The only thing you can hope for is if you already had a wayleave agreed for another Altnet then there's a slightly stronger likelihood that a wayleave will be granted for Openreach.

But if you are still waiting for your first wayleave then that probability is low.

For example, we have Community Fibre here and a wayleave was granted in early 2021 but it went live in December 2022. So, I waited 20 months (1 year and 8 months) from the date that the wayleave was agreed to when the service went live!

Last year June 2024 Virgin Media wayleave agreed and the letter was showing 4 weeks to complete the estate! But I know that was false as it took several months for the buildings to go live except my own! I am still waiting for it and I asked my housing estate and they have no further clarity/information on whether they'll upgrade us or not despite a wayleave.

Wayleave doesn't always mean that they'll build for that specific building/premise. Openreach might ignore the build completely even after a wayleave has been granted! Or it could be delayed for much, much longer.

My psychological state at the moment is that I have 0% hope that Openreach will upgrade us to FTTP any time soon especially without a confirmed wayleave! I had my hopes up for VM, but now that feels dashed despite a wayleave. Don't be too excited or hopeful or you'll end up more frustrated. You have to mentally prepare for zero but hope for the best.

We have given the wayleave to Openreach only. None of the other Altnets are looking to deploy to this MDU for now so there's no point giving it to them. So yes Openreach already has the wayleave.

How do you know you have been given a wayleave? Have you been given a written confirmation such as letter or a news announcement that a wayleave has indeed been granted? Or is it simply an email you received on the basis of you registering your interest?

My result shows like this...

Expressing your interest

We’re happy to confirm that we have a plan to bring Full Fibre to you.

Register with us and we’ll commit to keeping you updated on our build plans.

But this is simply Openreach confirming that they have a plan to bring Full Fibre but there's no mention of whether a wayleave has been secured.

This is simply Openreach demonstrating their interest in rolling out their service to my MDU building.

It is similar to the checker for

Hyperoptic
Work progress 2/3
2. We're rolling out in your area
We're bringing our full fibre network to your area!
Before we can connect you, we'll need permission from the Freeholder or Property Manager - so be sure to let them know you're interested.

Hyperoptic in this regard has a much more clearer checker that can easily tell you if you really have been granted a wayleave.
But in the case of Openreach the checker appears to be the same right across. There's no clarity, unless I am missing something that you have that's different. I've looked through many postcodes and they all appear to have the same description where they are happy to confirm to have a plan in bringing Full Fibre.

I see you mention about the different statuses. But whether it shows "We’ll be building in this area in the next year" or "We're building in this area now" tells us nothing about the wayleave. This is just a timetable where Openreach are focusing on their build plan for that area.

So, the checker may show building next year for an area that they are planning to rollout. But this is a plan for the area and not for the specific buildings within that area. This is what gets confusing for many reading this. They may be building now in my area e.g. but that may mean specific premises whether the wayleaves have easily been granted.
And if they secure a wayleave for another MDU for an area they plan to roll out next year then it is very much possible that the so-called ones next year will get the roll-out before me in the area they are apparently building now!

At the end of the day, even after a wayleave is granted that's only 1 step of the barrier passed. It can be granted and still never roll out! You know what? One of our properties in Shoreditch, London had a wayleave granted for Hyperoptic but Hyperoptic still never rolled out for that building!

My housing estate granted wayleave for Virgin Media last year and our building is still without their service for 1 year and 3 months since. It may or may not come at all. Wayleave does not guarantee that they'll rollout in absolutely 100% of all the MDU buildings. Even if you have been theoretically granted a wayleave it doesn't 100% guarantee that they'll still install the service. It simply means they have been given the permission to install for that building. But they may still not bother if they assess that that building is not economically viable.

For example, there are some Altnets that don't bother rolling out their service when there is an overbuild even if they are granted a wayleave!

In reply to a post by Iniltous:

It’s pointless anyone getting too excited about the changing status on a website, apart from the only really significant status , when it’s states FTTP is available to order , and the observant may well have noticed the actual network ‘build’ being done , a far better indication of availability than a website , and even an observation of local infrastructure being installed isn't an absolute guarantee of imminent availability.

would add its only worth getting excited when you put your postcode in an isp and it comes out positive then its christmas time*


* Sorry to mention the c word 😁😂🙈

Have u checked Airband if available to you?
https://www.airband.co.uk/

My client has checked Openreach FTTP not available at his flat but checked Airband and say yes it available at his flat with speed up to 1000/115!

Remember this. Airband and Openreach are two different networks.

Because I was helping to manage the wayleave on our part and the landlord already gave it to Openreach. I told them to and they’ve confirmed it’s been done.

To answer your other question, only our postcode received the Emails from Openreach saying they’re now building in our area. The other MDUs nearby never received it despite their postcode showing the same result on the fibre checker as ours. I assumed it’s because OR hasn’t got the wayleave for their blocks of flats yet but they do for ours.

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

Because I was helping to manage the wayleave on our part and the landlord already gave it to Openreach. I told them to and they’ve confirmed it’s been done.

To answer your other question, only our postcode received the Emails from Openreach saying they’re now building in our area. The other MDUs nearby never received it despite their postcode showing the same result on the fibre checker as ours. I assumed it’s because OR hasn’t got the wayleave for their blocks of flats yet but they do for ours.

Wayleave is all done - There is no way to knowing this! Not even you too! You probably waiting for a long while yet end of 2026! Like mine as well.

If the landlord confirmed the wayleave agreement then that's the best and most informed result!
The problem is some landlords are completely non-compliant and will not answer those questions and this usually gives clues that nothing has been agreed.

I guess email confirmation may be the clue that a wayleave has been passed, which I have not yet received despite registering my interest.
I just had a communication with my landlord for Virgin Media Nexfibre, which the technical officer (I suspect was dishonest) told me just a few days via email that he has had no further communication with Virgin Media. It was sort of a lie despite agreeing the wayleave for all the other buildings and these buildings went live at least 6 months ago!

Despite the wayleave agreement, it turns out that they have at least temporarily halted the permission for my building in March. I then contacted SCCI Alphatrack who are the real contractors and they responded saying that my building is in their plan and they are awaiting permission from my landlord as they were denied in March for the completion of my estate following a meeting! I CC'd the Technical Officer of my building with their email.

Total contradiction. The Tech Officer probably knew perfectly well but was hiding that info from me. I received 4 emails from SCCI saying the landlord hasn't yet given them permission. Yet the landlord Technical Officer is pretending to not know anything about it. It almost feels like they are trying to make their work life easier! Of-course I won't be fooled with these responses. That's why I followed up with SCCI.

I'm guessing a similar story is happening with Openreach, no wayleave has been granted. One indicator I know is when in 2018 it was initially planned, the checker reverted back to FTTC and eventually I got upgraded to FTTC in October 2019 instead of FTTP.

Living in Central London, I'm probably one of the last batch of premises to be upgraded to FTTC! The whole country had 95% FTTC coverage and I was one of the last 5% to be upgraded.

My previous Technical Services Manager of my housing association has retired last year!! And even SCCI admitted that him stepping down has helped with the initial wayleave agreement, exactly how I suspected when I received the letter for VMs wayleave agreement!

Community Fibre became live for my building in December 2022 after 20 months. However, there was a government legislation that passed parliament in 2021 where rogue landlords are obliged to sign a wayleave for the first wayleave agreement! The problem is that this legislation is only for people who have no FTTP at all. It doesn't help oblige a landlord to sign a second wayleave for a second FTTP overbuild provider. So, this suggests that anyone who has 2 or more FTTP providers, a wayleave was simply agreed on the landlords goodwill!

Good landlords sign wayleaves without making a big fuss while bad landlords have to be continuously pushed to get a response!

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Wayleave is all done - There is no way to knowing this! Not even you too! You probably waiting for a long while yet end of 2026! Like mine as well.

The main Cuckoo Oak area build has already started. TRR, cabling and duct unblocking work in Hills Lane and Sutton Hill, plant renewal in Madeley ready for fibre build, TRR, cabling and duct unblocking on the spine route from Telford to Ironbridge that'll be spurred off from to serve Madeley.

In reply to a post by XGS_Is_On:

The main Cuckoo Oak area build has already started. TRR, cabling and duct unblocking work in Hills Lane and Sutton Hill, plant renewal in Madeley ready for fibre build, TRR, cabling and duct unblocking on the spine route from Telford to Ironbridge that'll be spurred off from to serve Madeley.

That's good news but it still saying my property will be end of December 2026. I suspect the work is already done in Broseley area, now Ironbridge and probably do Sutton Hill, Hillslane, Madeley and Tweedales. Woodside are probably the last one where I live.

Thanks for the updated!

This area TF7 5QX number 1 to 37 and TF7 5QU number 2 to 12 is now LIVE FTTP by the Railway View served by Cabinet 3 by Ironbridge just off the main road A4169 between lightmoor road and woodside road. I am pretty sure it wasn't there last week for any FTTP.

Edited by adslmax (Wed 24-Sep-25 16:34:26)