Glasgow Hilton: Network Cabinet Electrical Supplies

Introduction

As part of a network infrastructure upgrade at the Hilton in Glasgow, we were brought in to install dedicated electrical supplies for a series of new network cabinets across the hotel's comms rooms. In a hotel, the network supports everything from guest WiFi and card key systems to reservations and payment terminals, so these supplies needed to be reliable, clearly identified and installed without disrupting a fully operational building. Every part of the work was carried out by our own engineers, from the first survey through to testing and certification.

Project Overview

The scope covered a new distribution board to serve the network equipment, dedicated circuits to each cabinet location, and industrial socket outlets positioned where the new cabinets would be installed. The board was fitted with a 125A four pole main switch and individual 30mA RCBOs, giving each circuit its own overcurrent and earth fault protection. A fault on one supply only affects that circuit, rather than taking down several network cabinets at once, which matters in a building that depends on its network around the clock. From the board, supplies were run in neat surface conduit to each comms room, finishing at 16A IP44 industrial sockets with integral rotary isolators. These allow each cabinet to be switched off locally for maintenance without going back to the board. Several of the comms rooms were tight spaces already packed with data cabling, so conduit drops and outlets were positioned carefully to keep clear access to the cabinets and existing equipment. Every circuit is labelled at the board and at its outlet, including the dedicated 16 amp server supply, so the hotel's facilities team can identify and isolate the right circuit quickly.

Before/After

Before

After

The first image shows the new distribution board during installation, with the cover off to reveal the RCBOs, main switch and neatly dressed wiring before the supplies were connected. The second shows the same board completed and closed up, with every circuit protected by its own RCBO and clearly labelled, including the 16 amp server supply feeding the new network equipment.

Gallery

The gallery follows the installation from the plant room to the comms rooms. It shows the new distribution board installed alongside the hotel's existing electrical equipment, the RCBOs and circuit labelling on the finished board, and the conduit runs leaving the board. It also shows the 16A isolated sockets installed at each network cabinet location, including in tight comms rooms already carrying large volumes of data cabling, with each outlet labelled to match its circuit.

Client Quote

Strathclyde Electrical Service made the power side of our network upgrade straightforward. The team worked around the running of the hotel, kept us informed throughout, and left every supply clearly labelled and certified, ready for the network installers.

Result

The hotel now has dedicated, individually protected power to each new network cabinet, fed from a distribution board built for the job and clearly labelled from board to outlet. The network installers were able to fit and power up the new cabinets on supplies that were already tested, certified and documented, and the facilities team has a full set of test results for its records. It's a good example of commercial electrical work in a live building done with one team: The same engineers surveyed, installed, tested and handed over the job, keeping coordination simple for everyone involved.