Well this doesn't sound very promising. I guess I'll just have to keep trying with the managing agent and freeholder's agent. Any advice on that would be appreciated.

In reply to a post by Cockroach:

Well this doesn't sound very promising. I guess I'll just have to keep trying with the managing agent and freeholder's agent. Any advice on that would be appreciated.

From my own experience some 7 years ago and taking account of legislation changes in the meantime, I agree that the management and freeholder's agents will be where you will need to apply the pressure.

Ours was a 4 dwelling unit which was a completely refurbished and renovated former industrial building in the far reaches of Cornwall. The management committee was comprised of the dwellings' owners, and the management company was the plot freeholder. Copper was the only available option at the time of renovation, but it was all ducted and made running the fibre into the building very straightforward. Cornwall Council was ahead of the game in getting high speed internet established, and when the fibre rollout started in in our neck of the woods, it didn't take me long to realise that we were being bypassed.

I was at a bit of a loss as to how to deal with this initially. but the good folks on this site got me pointed in the right direction, namely our local BDUK organisation, Superfast Cornwall. After a slow start, they really came good and pulled in Openreach who surveyed the site. I signed off the wayleave on behalf of the management company, and the fibre got run in.

Ironically, by this point, my wife had got fed up with life in a flat, and I (very) reluctantly agreed to move, so didn't feel able to pursue the switch to fibre as it would have risked a substantial payment for the unused portion of the contract. The new owner will have had the full benefit of my efforts!

One aspect I didn't have a chance to get to grips with was fibre distribution within the building. Unfortunately, the telephone lines to the individual flats had not been ducted, and pulling fibre through was not feasible. With only 4 flats, and the new much more flexible fibre starting to become available, it was probably not a major problem, but for your situation, with 7 floors and 41 dwellings it may need careful consideration.

Good Luck!

Thanks for all your advice.

I've recently heard that Openreach are using Invisilight for this sort of deployment, so there are definitely circumstances when they will retro-fit in my sort of building.

Meanwhile I've been told by the managing agent that the Hyperoptic proposal has been passed on to the freeholder.

I also heard back from the freeholder's agent: "we are currently working with the larger broadband providers looking to upgrade all of our buildings to fibre. The providers have been given a list of our buildings across the UK of which they are currently working through and addressing within geographical parcels.".

So it looks like a few things might be happening behind the scenes. Bit of a waiting game now, I guess.

the good news is your managing agent has a a number of building in the same state so is getting heat across the board and has reached out to the infrastructure builders - its not like its just a small management Agent with a problem in one MDU

I am going through an MDU install in a small block off Fleet Street (where incidentally FTTC has never been available, like much of central London).

Openreach are (or were - it has been well over a year since we started) installing under a scheme called FibreCity, and a card arrived in the post initially. The procedure is that fibres are run to a small point of entry (POE) box outside each flat, and that is all that happens until such time as the resident orders a service from an ISP.

The contractor uses the Furukawa Invisilight system, in which I think there may be 12 fibres in a single round white 2mm sheath. This is typically routed in the corner where the ceiling (or coving) meets the wall, although in my case it ran along the skirting and up and over doorways. The sheath is stripped inside the first (and subsequent) POE box to break out one fibre to a connector, and the rest carry on in the sheath to the next flat.

The site is sensitive - Victorian cornices and new paintwork, with a staircase and no riser, but the installation is unobtrusive. The POE box is about 80x150 from memory and can be painted the colour of the wall. The boxes were positioned where I asked (having previously looked in each flat) so the future installation can be drilled through the centre of the box to a sensible point in the flats.

For the benefit of other readers the InvisiLight system in-dwelling installation is covered in these promo videos; video 1 and video 2 by OFS/Furukawa.

A typical hallway MDU install is shown here. Individual components are shown here

Note these are all North American promo videos, not those of Openreach in the UK.

My building has plenty of riser space and removable ceiling panels in the communal areas - not sure how that would impact an Invisilight install. It would be shame if it isn't hidden but I guess the problem is routing inside each flat above ceiling level.

I've also learned that Hyperoptic now use Invisilight as the default for internal installs. Might end up with two of them at some point!