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How close to a BT Cabinet (old style) can you build?

I've lived in my current property for several years and there has always been a BT Steel Cabinet in the garden. I now want to extend and the cabinet is in the way. I'm told it £35-40K to get it moved.

How close to it can I build - I could do the extension if I can build within 50cm or so of the side and back of the cabinet. The front would be accessible and free, and all the cabling runs in a tunnel out the front of the cabinet, which would be untouched.

Any thoughts or questions gladly accepted

thx

Mark
 
I've lived in my current property for several years and there has always been a BT Steel Cabinet in the garden. I now want to extend and the cabinet is in the way. I'm told it £35-40K to get it moved.

How close to it can I build - I could do the extension if I can build within 50cm or so of the side and back of the cabinet. The front would be accessible and free, and all the cabling runs in a tunnel out the front of the cabinet, which would be untouched.

Any thoughts or questions gladly accepted

thx

Mark

Slightly confused here if it's on your land why have you got to pay to have it moved? Surely you can just say you don't want it anymore?
 
Slightly confused here if it's on your land why have you got to pay to have it moved? Surely you can just say you don't want it anymore?

Not as simple as that - the OFCOM 1984 act protects BT - I can ask them to move it, but they have the right to survey and agree to move it - at my cost. Basically,it hasnt been contested in 45 years so I cant have them move it at their cost..
 
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Your best starting point might be this helpline:
https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/contactus/tellussomething/tellus.do
Or even more likely this one:
https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/ho...damage/protectingnetwork/networkprotection.do

Call up and say that building work on your property is going to come close to or around a BT PCP / green cabinet and.. can they provide maps of cabling and ducting, and what space would they like behind the cabinet.
I'm sure if you walk around a local town you can find a cabinet up against a wall. I even am sure I recall seeing cabinets butting right up to the wall at the back.

And on a similar train of thought - I will leave this here:
19584_10202669790585277_3378266014310981665_n.jpg

Note the bolt-down point in front of the cabinet so the home owner can - deliberately - padlock his bin in front of the cabinet and prevent engineers from accesing it.

Tom - www.mouselike.org
 
Well I think the cabinet would make an interesting feature in any new reception room you are thinking of building, of course engineers would have to arrange a party date and bring a nice bottle of wine to access it.
 
Reminds me a little bit of this:

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.ph...bt-street-cabinet-results-police-callout.html

Anyway you'll definitely have to consult with Openreach on this question as nobody here will be able to give an answer for your specific situation, only Openreach knows the setup and its underground cabling. We have local power infrastructure in our garden, so I know the challenges you face and it's stopped us doing a lot of things.

It goes without saying that if you were to build too close and cut off telecoms services to the area then your neighbours and Openreach might not be happy :) , plus the latter could charge you as it's not on public land. Most such telecoms / broadband outages occur due to third-party contractors, so you'd need to leave a bit of extra room beyond anything they tell you, just in case of mistakes.

Funnily enough Captain's suggestion of making it a feature inside your extension or concealing it inside the extension, might be viable (if you’re nuts, as they may need to change the cabinet in the future). Just so long as the new foundations avoid the critical cabling and that's a challenge. Personally I'd put a big black 2001 style obelisk around it, with a monkey bone slightly suspended in the air above.
 
Note the bolt-down point in front of the cabinet so the home owner can - deliberately - padlock his bin in front of the cabinet and prevent engineers from accessing it.

Tom - www.mouselike.org

I bet he gets good FTTC speeds :) .
 
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Personally I'd put a big black 2001 style obelisk around it, with a monkey bone slightly suspended in the air above.

I've been checking Amazon, but cannot find a suitable one; could you give me a clue as to where such a thing can be bought??

If it is any consolation, my sisters first house had a huge (rusty) 1920's sewer pipe running right through her cellar. Sort of ruined the ambiance.
 
DIY Captain ;). Cardboard or wood + black paint.
 
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