UK ISP Hyperoptic to Deploy 1Gbps Broadband for Chelsea Island

Urban fibre optic ISP Hyperoptic has announced that they’ve been selected to deliver 1Gbps capable broadband (FTTB/H) connectivity into the Chelsea Island development in London, which will feature 89 luxury apartments built by the Hadley Property Group.

The news is borderline for us (i.e. we get a lot like it and so usually only cover the big updates), but it helps to highlight how strong the competition has become for medium to large new build developments, with Openreach, Virgin Media, GTC (IFNL / BUUK), Hyperoptic, Community Fibre and others all doing their level best to attract the interest of property developers.

In particular we’ve recently seen Openreach scooping up a lot of these new builds as part of their plan to reach 2 million premises by 2020. At the same time it’s easy to forget that Hyperoptic has similarly set a target for covering 2 million premises by 2022 and possibly 5 million by around 2025 (here).

James Taylor, Sales and Marketing Director at Hadley Property Group, said:

“We have opted for best in breed suppliers and appliances to ensure that residents have an unparalleled living experience when they arrive at Chelsea Island. We want to ensure that the connectivity complements the high quality of the home we’re delivering.

In this digital age, residents want and expect their home to be highly-connected, incorporating smart technology – which is under-pinned by hyperfast broadband. We have fitted each apartment with an advanced Bang & Olufsen home automation system – with full fibre from Hyperoptic, this will all work seamlessly on the day that they move in.”

Steve Holford, Hyperoptic’s Chief Customer Officer, said:

“Hyperoptic is renowned as the supplier of choice from our experience working with iconic and legendary developments in London like Battersea Power Station, The Montevetro, The Tower and One St George Wharf – retrofitting fibre into existing buildings or installing fibre into new-build sites so that residents have access to our hyperfast speeds on day one.”

The Chelsea Island project is expected to complete the regeneration of the Lots Road area at Chelsea riverside by the end of 2018. No doubt Hyperoptic will be looking to make use of the spare underground duct space that has been pre-built as part of the development. On the other hand with prices ranging from an eye watering £935,000 to £11,995,000, it’s probably not an area that those of us with an average salary could ever hope to afford.

You’d certainly expect the fastest connection for that sort of money, even though there are still a fair few wealthy apartment blocks in London where slow ADSL or hybrid fibre FTTC is the best you can hope for.