The short version
A new commercial building, or a base-build being fitted out for the first time, has no history to fall back on. Nobody has run cable through it before, the comms room is a line on a drawing, and the carrier may not have connected anything yet.
That makes it the easiest time to get communications right and the easiest time to forget them. The pattern that works:
- Involve the cabler while the drawings can still change.
- Site the comms room where the service enters and give it proper power and ventilation.
- Confirm early who provides the lead-in from the street and the pathways inside.
- Order the internet as soon as the address can be qualified.
- Have a business 5G service ready in case approvals or the carrier run late.
Who installs data cabling in a new build, the electrician or a cabler?
Several parties touch the communications in a new building. Confusion about who does what is the usual cause of missing conduit and late connections.
| Party | Usually responsible for |
|---|---|
| Builder or project manager | The programme, site access and coordinating trades |
| Electrician | Power to the comms room and outlets, often cable tray and conduit |
| Registered cabler | Data cabling, outlets, comms rack, patching, testing and documentation |
| Carrier or NBN | The network up to and into the building |
| Developer or owner | Pathways and lead-in inside the property boundary, depending on the carrier’s process |
| Your IT provider | Computers, servers and business software |
The data cabling itself should be done by a registered cabler. The ACMA says a registered cabler can perform or supervise all communications cabling in an office, and NBN says cabling inside premises for its network must be done by registered cablers. Some electricians hold cabling registration, so the same firm can sometimes do both. Ask to see the registration card either way.
One boundary worth knowing: the ACMA says registered cablers cannot work on cabling owned by a carrier or NBN. Your cabler builds everything from the carrier’s termination point inward. The carrier builds the rest.
Get involved at drawing stage
The cheapest point to fix a communications problem is on paper. At drawing stage a cabler can mark up:
- The comms room location and size.
- Cable tray and conduit routes through ceilings, risers and walls.
- Outlet positions for desks, screens, printers and meeting rooms.
- Ceiling positions for Wi-Fi access points and cameras.
- Cable to controlled doors, so the door hardware and the cabling are designed together.
Once those are on the electrical and ceiling drawings, the containment and power go in during the build. If they are missed, the same work happens later through finished ceilings and walls, at more cost and with more disruption.
Comms room requirements for a new office
The comms room is where the incoming service lands and every cable in the building returns. In a new build you get to choose where it goes, so choose deliberately.
- Location. Close to where the carrier’s service enters the building, and central enough that cable runs to the far corners stay within the length the cabling standards allow. Large floors may need a second rack.
- Power. A dedicated circuit, enough outlets for the rack, and space for a UPS if the network and phones need to ride through short outages.
- Ventilation. Switches, firewalls and camera recorders produce heat. A sealed cupboard with no airflow will cause faults.
- Space. Room to work in front of the rack and, ideally, behind it, with space left for equipment you have not bought yet.
- Security. A lockable room or cabinet. It should not double as the cleaner’s store.
Office data cabling fit-outs covers rack layout and labelling in more detail.
Getting the service in from the street
Before any internet service can be connected, there has to be a physical path from the street to the comms room. In a new building, that path is part of the build.
How it is provided depends on the carrier and the site. For NBN new developments, NBN’s published process puts the design and build of pathways inside the property boundary on the developer, with NBN reviewing designs and inspecting the works before it connects. For pathway developments, which NBN says include commercial buildings, it states that connecting fibre inside the premises takes a minimum of eight weeks.
Other carriers and higher-grade fibre services have their own processes. The practical step is to ask the builder and the carrier early who is providing the lead-in conduit, where it enters the building, and how it reaches the comms room. Any penetrations through fire-rated walls or floors will need to be sealed properly, and the builder will want to know who is doing it.
When cabling happens in the programme
Cabling in a new build happens in two passes, and both have to fit around other trades.
- Design. Comms room, pathways and outlet positions on the drawings.
- Rough-in. Containment installed, and cable run through ceilings and walls while they are still open.
- Ceilings and walls close. After this, adding cable gets slow and expensive.
- Fit-off. Outlets terminated, rack built, every link tested and labelled.
- Active equipment. Switches, Wi-Fi, cameras and door hardware installed and configured.
- Handover. Test results and as-built documentation handed over before staff arrive.
The cabler needs to be on the builder’s programme from the start. A cabler who arrives after the ceilings are closed is doing retrofit work in a brand-new building.
Order the internet before the building is finished
The internet service often has a longer lead time than the fit-out, and a new building can add a construction stage before any order can be completed. Qualify the address as early as the carrier allows and place the order as soon as you can.
Internet lead times for a new tenancy covers what to order and when. In a new build, add one step: confirm the building’s own pathways are ready, because the carrier cannot connect a service to a building that has no way in.
When the body corporate or the carrier is slow
Two delays catch new sites most often. The landlord or the owners corporation, still often called the body corporate, has to approve cabling through common property, risers or the roof. Or the carrier’s connection date is later than the move-in date.
Neither has to stop you trading. A business 5G service needs no cabling through common property, so it can run the office while approvals or the fixed service catch up. To make it work:
- Test the signal where the router will sit. New buildings with concrete and modern glazing can have weaker indoor reception. An external antenna may help, and that can need its own approval.
- Size the plan for the real workload. Cloud phones, video calls and file sync add up across a team.
- Use the router that will run the fixed service. Cutover then becomes a small change, and the 5G service can stay on as a backup. See business internet failover.
- Keep the approval moving. Submit drawings, the cable route and the cabler’s details together. In the meantime, cabling inside your own tenancy can often continue if the lease allows it.
Helpful starting points
Kookaburra Comms works on brand-new commercial builds and base-build fit-outs across Melbourne and Victoria, alongside builders, electricians and project managers. Commercial fit-out communications covers the whole site. For the cabling and comms room, see data and fibre cabling. To qualify the address, place the order and set up 5G to trade on, start with business internet.