A2Dominion: Relieving landlords of the digital infrastructure burden

The brief

A2Dominion provides a range of homes for 69,000 people across London and southern England. This includes 40,000 properties that span shared ownership, private rentals, and social and supported housing.

The housing provider has a social purpose; its vision is to improve people’s lives through high-quality homes and services. What’s more, the not-for-profit organisation reinvests all its profits into building more new homes and supporting the communities where it works.

However, in order to deliver the exceptional levels of support that A2Dominion prides itself on, the organisation itself needed support. Specifically, it needed help managing the ever-growing number of requests it was receiving from internet service providers (ISPs), which wanted to enter its homes to connect tenants to their broadband services. And it needed help checking that all the work was completed to the requisite standards.

World-class digital infrastructure is an essential utility today, and A2Dominion required a strategic partner to ensure its buildings were equipped accordingly but, crucially, without compromising on residents’ wellbeing and making sure that compliance and fire safety standards were met.

This is, after all, a huge burden on landlords and housing associations, coming on top of an already long list of priorities they must address on a daily basis.

That’s where Complete Technology Group (CTG) comes in.

The work

CTG offers landlords and housing groups digital strategy, advisory and audit services.

What does this mean? Essentially, it means CTG relieves landlords of the burden of managing ISP access requests and overseeing digital infrastructure works. In doing so, thanks to our experience and expertise, we reduce risk and assure safe, high-quality, and compliant outcomes. And that is exactly what we have done for A2Dominion – this is how we went about it.

Firstly, given its vast portfolio of properties across London and the South, CTG invested time to understand each of A2Dominion’s buildings, the people who lived within them, and their status regarding digital infrastructure.

Where multi-dwelling units (MDUs – buildings with six or more floors) were concerned, CTG was able to recommend its sister company, Complete Fibre, which could then manage the planning and installation of a single, open-access ‘plug-and-play’ digital infrastructure. This plug-and-play solution allows multiple ISPs to connect to the infrastructure, ensuring choice for the building’s residents without each ISP having to enter the building to install their own fibre infrastructure.

Crucially, whether a landlord opts to work with Complete Fibre (as A2Dominion did) or not, CTG acts as the bridge between a landlord and telecommunications providers. This was – and remains – a crucial part of our work with A2Dominion.

We handle all communications to and from ISPs, freeing up a huge amount of resources for A2Dominion to focus on other priorities.

Moreover, during and after any work being undertaken by an ISP, CTG’s team of independent inspectors carried out audits, providing complete transparency of the quality of the work, the structural integrity of the buildings, and the safety of residents.

This entire service has been delivered at no direct cost to A2Dominion. Indeed, CTG does not charge landlords or housing associations for its services; instead, these are paid for by the telecommunications providers, which are required to cover any reasonable costs incurred.

The outcome

By partnering with CTG, A2Dominion was able to gain vital support in handling a huge volume of requests and communications with ISPs. Moreover, any work carried out by an ISP was overseen by CTG, with audits completed for every fibre installation, ensuring all work was delivered to the highest standards, with safety paramount throughout.

In turn, A2Dominion was able to focus its attention on other areas. It was a win-win for both the organisation and everyone living within A2Dominion’s homes, and we are proud to say our working relationship with the housing group continues today as a strong, long-term partnership.

Here is what the client said about their experience of working with CTG:

“Working with CTG has been a breath of fresh air. It’s a company that is clear in explaining what they are going to do, and then they stick to it.

“I have had the pleasure of working with David Lewis [account manager at CTG] and the team for some time now and they are always on the ball; nothing is ever too much. They are knowledgeable and down to earth, helping to break things down. What’s more, they use their initiative and are proactive in their approach, which is great for us as a housing association with a social purpose. It helps us focus on delivering excellence.”

• Coreen Ambrose, Contract Manager, A2Dominion