One network standard across a 26-campus education estate

The challenge

Twenty-six campuses had grown their networks independently: overlapping IP schemes, undocumented equipment, and no common design. Every new campus integration, camera addition or support call started with archaeology. The group needed one standard — without interrupting operating childcare centres.

The solution

A single estate-wide network architecture: one addressing plan and segmentation model (operations, CCTV, access control and guest traffic separated), applied campus by campus in scheduled waves, with every site documented as it was converted.

Implementation

Re-segmentation waves were executed across 15 campuses in a single month — each visit job-sheeted with photo evidence and signed off on site — alongside the estate's running maintenance: NVR and camera care, door-access upgrades, UPS battery replacement and server-rack installations.

The outcome

One design language across 26 campuses. New sites join a standard instead of inventing one; faults are diagnosed against documentation instead of memory; and 28 work orders in the ERP carry the evidence — every one with a signed job sheet.