Data & Networking
Structured cabling, cabinets and wireless, installed and certified alongside the power
The Lake Electrical team designs, installs, tests and certifies structured cabling for commercial buildings and high end homes across the South East, covering Cat6 and Cat6a cabling, comms cabinets, fibre, wifi access points and the small power the network equipment needs, on the same containment and programme as the electrical installation. The certification is handed over on completion.
NICEIC approved contractor. SafeContractor accredited. DBS-checked engineers. Trading since 2008.
Structured cabling and data cabling installation across the South East
We are an electrical contractor based in Battle in East Sussex, installing structured cabling across Kent, East Sussex, Surrey and the wider South East: office data cabling, Cat6 and Cat6a installation to the desk, comms cabinet installation and patching, a fibre backbone where distances need one, and wifi access points set out for the coverage the building needs. We cable offices and commercial property, schools and education, universities and industrial sites, for main contractors on a fit out and for homeowners on a high end build, alongside the rest of our services.
The difference between cabling planned with the building and cabling added at the end
Cabling installed as an afterthought is easy to recognise. Cables lie loose above a suspended ceiling with no containment, resting on pipework and light fittings, nothing labelled at either end. The cabinet is in a cupboard with no ventilation, behind a patch panel nobody has updated in five years, so tracing one connection means unplugging things until somebody down the corridor shouts. Points terminated in a hurry test as working, then drop under load once everybody is on a video call, and access points go where a fixing was easy rather than where the coverage is needed, so the far meeting room has one bar.
Cabling planned with the building costs far less to live with. The containment is shared with the power installation and drawn once, so the data has a route of its own with capacity left in it. Every outlet and patch port is labelled to a schedule that matches the drawing you are handed, and the cabinet is sized and ventilated for what gets added to it. Every link is tested and certified to its category, and the results are handed over on completion.
What a certified test result actually is
Plugging a laptop into an outlet and getting a connection proves very little. A link can carry traffic today and still sit outside the standard for its category, and when it gives up it shows as a slow transfer or a dropped call rather than a fault anybody can point at. Certification means every finished run is tested with a calibrated instrument that measures how the cable, the connectors and the terminations behave together: the wire map, the length, insertion loss, crosstalk and return loss across the frequency range the category is rated for, compared against the standard the link was installed to. Every link is tested, not a sample, each one passes or fails on its own, and the results come to you on completion as a document listing every link against its outlet and port label. Anything that fails is corrected and retested before handover. That settles an argument before it starts. When a user complains, the cabling has been proven, so the search goes to the switch port, the patch lead or the device. [[CONFIRM: whether you certify installations under a manufacturer warranty programme and whether that may be named, and what cable and cabinet manufacturers you standardise on]]
What a certified, labelled network gives the people who run the building
Your IT provider can trace a fault from the cabinet, because the port in front of them names the room it serves, rather than borrowing a ladder and lifting tiles across an occupied office. An office move goes in over a weekend, the desks arrive on Monday and every outlet works. A school adds an access point to a classroom without a new cable run, because the containment went in with capacity to spare.
What a data cabling installation with us includes
One contractor for the power and the data, on one programme
On most fit outs the data cabling is a separate package, delivered by somebody who arrives to find the containment already full. Data and networking cabling is part of what we install as commercial electrical work, so the containment is designed once and shared, the routes are agreed before first fix, the outlets and sockets are set out on one drawing, and one contractor answers for the lot. We are used to cat B fit out work, to acting for the tenant carrying the cost, to a main contractor’s programme and tender documentation, and to planning school and university work into the holidays.
The same holds in a house. On a high end domestic rewire or a high end build, the data cabling, the smart home and automation wiring and the LED lighting all want the same first fix.
Accredited, and used to working in buildings that stay open
We have been installing, testing and certifying electrical and data installations since 2008, as a NICEIC approved contractor, SafeContractor accredited, with DBS-checked engineers.
Recent work
What clients say
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Why clients choose the Lake Electrical team
Lake Electrical is family run and owner led. The owners run the jobs themselves, so the person who walks the building with you is the one who prices it and the one answerable for it. Call in working hours and you get a person in the office, not a voicemail, which counts when a fit out date is already fixed. Our engineers have all been with us at least two years, so the engineer who labelled your cabinet is usually still here.
We tell you what the building needs rather than only what has been asked for, including the run that has to be replaced instead of reused. We are not the cheapest, and we are straight about that. What you pay for is a network certified link by link, with records that still make sense to whoever opens the cabinet in five years.
Data and networking questions answered
What structured cabling is, and whether you need Cat6 or Cat6a
Structured cabling is the fixed, standards based cabling in a building, installed as one designed system: outlets in the rooms, cabling on planned containment back to a comms cabinet, patch panels in the cabinet, and fibre between cabinets where distance needs it. Any device can then be plugged into any outlet, and the equipment can change without rewiring. Cat6 suits most offices, schools and homes. Cat6a is worth the extra on longer ten gigabit links and in a building you intend to hold. We will say which fits yours.
Can you install cabling in an occupied office and out of hours
Yes, and a good deal of our work is exactly that. We plan the job in sections, agree access and ceiling work in advance, and work evenings, weekends or agreed windows so nobody loses a working day.
How is data cabling priced, and does a survey come first
The survey comes first. We price from the survey and the drawings rather than a rate card, because the number of outlets, the run lengths, the containment already in place and how much falls out of hours all change the figure. You get the scope and the cost before anything is agreed.
Do you run fibre between buildings
Yes. Where a site has more than one building, or a run is longer than copper will support, a fibre backbone links the cabinets and the copper radiates out of each one. We survey the route and the ducting, subcontract any building work, then terminate and test the fibre in the same handover pack as the copper.
Where the network carries more than data
If the network is also going to carry audio visual, digital signage and control, our sister company OBAV covers the systems that sit on it, so the cabling and the equipment are designed together. If you are fitting out an office, our offices and commercial property page sets out how we work for tenants and occupiers.
Request a quote for your cabling and network
If you are planning a fit out, an office move or a high end build, the next step is a survey.
Need cabling or a network installed? Request a quote. Prefer a chat first? Get in touch, or call the team on [[NAP: phone number]].
We work across Kent, East Sussex, Surrey and the wider South East, with commercial projects reaching sites such as Chichester.