For the first time in the history of Lyttelton Port Company both administration and operational teams were to operate within the same building – Waterfront House. The new building was to be established on Gladstone Quay. The original multi-story Lyttelton Container Terminal (LCT) that housed container operations and acted as the primary technology source since 1977 was to be demolished shortly after.

Much of the digital work on this project was underground and complex. The LCT building received two fibre feeds and one copper from diverse entry paths that terminated inside a central server room. From there, the entire LPC LAN network was supplied fibre, from Coal in the east to Oil in the west and everything in between.

Leading the digital design process for the new building and utilising key stakeholders we were able to plan a new and robust server room and staged design to redirect diverse fibre paths into the building and re-route LAN fibre paths out to the numerous onsite switches.

The work was complex, and an error would have seen 24/7 operational work grind to a halt.

Staging was incredibly important, predecessors were clearly defined and detailed through a series of workshops involving a wide range of stakeholders. An understanding of each business unit, its operation and use of technology but most importantly strong relationships and communication saw each stage executed as planned.

The move for the administration staff occurred two days prior to Christmas. With staff packing up their desks on the Friday morning, and with the assistance of a moving company, my Digital team managed the set up of 70 workstations in an afternoon. Saturday was spent troubleshooting a few issues and when staff returned to work the Wednesday after Christmas, we had a team walking the floor to support them with technology queries. At a time when almost no Digital work can be scheduled the team at Computer Concepts Ltd put their hand up to make it happen for us.

Special thanks: Steve Gaskell (Beca), Russel Wood and Mark Sinclair (2Degrees), Jack Foley and Craig Meaclem (M&H Communications) and Tony Walker (Higgins).

Internal LPC Photo Credit: Simon Devitt Photographer