// Guide · Cabling
Planning network cabling: the guide for commercial buildings
From surveying demand through cabinet locations and containment routes to handover with a test report — what has to be settled before anyone pulls a cable.
// Why upfront
Cable outlives every piece of software
A cabling installation survives two or three generations of equipment. Whatever disappears into walls, ceilings and containment today is normally not touched again until the next refit, which means planning mistakes stay visible for years — usually in the form of improvised switches under desks and in ceiling voids.
The work therefore sits at the front: where people will actually be working, how many connections each place needs, and where the cabinet has to stand so that every link stays within its permitted length. What the installation looks like as a trade is described on our page about network cabling for commerce and industry; the standards-based execution with pin assignment and measurement is covered under structured cabling.
This guide is written for building owners, site managers and IT leads. It describes the approach for offices, medical practices, warehouses and production floors — not for residential property.
// Sequence
Four phases up to handover
The order is not arbitrary: each phase produces the input the next one needs.
Record use per area
Count activities rather than rooms: desks, meeting spaces, entrances, cameras, tills, machines, wireless cells. Every position gets a number of connections.
Fix cabinets and routes
Where the cabinet stands determines every link length in the building. Containment paths, fire compartments and penetrations are decided here, not on site.
Pull and label
Installation is where bend radii, pulling force and separation from power cabling matter — along with labels at both ends, without which nobody finds a link again.
Measure and document
Every link is tested against the limits of its class. The report and a current patching schedule are handed to the operator together with the installation.
// Two starting positions
New build or existing building
The biggest difference is not technical. It is how long decisions remain changeable.
Everything is still movable
- Containment and penetrations are created with the shell
- The equipment room can sit centrally, keeping every link short
- Spare capacity costs almost nothing while the route is still open
- Coordination with electrical, fire safety and ventilation is mandatory, not optional
The route defines what is possible
- Existing containment and risers limit how many new links can be added and where
- Measuring the old installation shows what remains usable
- Work happens in sections, often outside business hours
- An extra floor cabinet usually beats one long run across the building
// Documents
What belongs in the planning pack
These points turn a statement of intent into something you can tender — and, later, into an installation somebody can maintain.
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Floor plan with connection points
Every outlet with its position and port count. It is the one document that genuinely makes bidders comparable.
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Labelling scheme
A fixed system of building, floor, room and sequential number — identical on outlet, cable and patch panel. Without a scheme, every later fault trace is manual work.
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Cabinet concept
Location, size and power supply of the cabinets, plus the question of whether each floor gets its own or everything lands centrally.
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Chosen class and components
Category of the link, connector type and screening. The weakest component decides the result of the acceptance test.
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Containment and fire stopping
Routes, fixings, separation from the electrical installation and the sealing of compartment penetrations — agreed against the fire safety concept.
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Headroom for later
Free ports on the panel, space in the cabinet and empty conduit on the main routes. Spare capacity is cheap during construction and expensive afterwards.
// Acceptance
How to recognise a proper handover
What you accept at the end of a cabling project is not cable, it is documentation. Ask for these records before you sign anything off.
- A test report per link, with limit class, result and date
- Details of instrument and calibration status — without them the report carries no weight
- A patching schedule that ties outlet, cable and panel port together
- An updated floor plan showing every connection point as actually installed
- A list of the components installed on each link
- Handover in a format you can keep maintaining without the original contractor
// Common questions
What building owners ask about cabling
01 How many outlets should we allow per workstation?
Two is the usual starting point and three is the safe version. Computer, phone, printer, time recording and access control otherwise end up sharing one port through a small switch under the desk — and that is exactly where hard-to-trace faults appear later on.
02 Which cable category makes sense today?
For new commercial installations, category 6A has settled in as the norm because it carries higher data rates and power over the network cable dependably. Higher categories usually only pay off for special requirements: connectors and installation quality limit the outcome more than the label on the drum does.
03 How long may a single run be?
A copper channel is limited to one hundred metres in total, of which at most ninety may be permanently installed; the remainder is reserved for patch and equipment cords. Anything beyond that needs either an additional cabinet or a fibre run to that point.
04 What does a test report contain?
Per link: the label, the measured result against the limits of the chosen class, the instrument used with its calibration status, and the date. The report is the basis for handover — without those values, nobody can later tell whether a fault sits in the cabling or in a device.
05 Can existing cabling be extended?
Frequently yes, provided cabinets, containment and the installed class still have headroom. Measuring the existing links first is worth the effort: if old runs no longer meet their limits, the extension is built on a foundation that is already producing errors.
06 When does cabling have to enter a construction project?
As soon as wall and ceiling build-ups are being decided. Containment routes, fire stopping and the space for the cabinet can only be changed later at considerable cost. Network planning therefore belongs in the same phase as electrical and ventilation design, not in the fit-out.
The trade itself
All guides
Is a refit or a new build coming up?
We survey the areas, plan containment and cabinets, and then install the cabling ourselves — including measurement and the test report you need at handover.