Construction of small bore trenchless ducts for fibre optic communications cabling

NPL needs to link the two side of its Teddington site with high spec fibre optic cables. It is envisaged that horizontal directional drilling or micro tunnelling technologies will be employed, though NPL is open to other compliant proposals. To ensure future resilience 4 parallel ducts are required and due to the congested nature of the site a maximum of 4 access chambers/pits can be accommodated over the 800m run. A consistent temperature must be maintained within the ducts. The contract will be let on a design and build basis, using an NEC4 form of contract. During the design phase the contractor will coordinate with the cabling contractor providing the fibre optic cables to ensure the design of the duct and access chambers/pits complies with the acceptable bend radius on the cables and with any other specific cabling requirements.