Oxford Plastics innovative Trench Cover launched to support £5bn Project Gigabit
Leading innovator and manufacturer of site safety equipment Oxford Plastics has announced the launch of a new trench cover which will aid the installation of fibre optics and telecommunications throughout the UK.
The LowPro 100 Narrow Trench Cover coincides with the government’s launch of the new £5bn ‘Project Gigabit’ which aims to reach more than one million hard to reach homes and businesses, supplying them with the next generation of gigabit broadband from the first half of 2022.
The UK government’s pledge is to ensure 85% of UK homes are connected with full fibre by the end of 2026. The project will mean that for full fibre to be provided to 80% of homes, then 200,000km of cable will need to be laid. In rural areas, 20% of homes will add an additional 160,000km of cable.
The product, which has taken eight months to develop by the Oxford Plastics team, has been designed to be one of the safest available on the market for pedestrians as pathways and roads are fitted with the state of the art fibre optic technology, throughout the UK.
Oxford Plastics chairman and technical director Chris Whiteley, said they believed it was the safest product on the market currently, and was made from recycled plastic, and was fully recyclable.
He said: “The goal we set ourselves was to design a narrow trench cover that was the safest possible for pedestrians, creating no gaps or trip hazards. We achieved this by creating a system that links securely, overlaps to remove any gaps, can swivel to go around bends safely, and has a tread pattern with the highest possible slip resistance even in wet conditions.
“We did this by working closely with major telecom utilities partners, generating many concepts for them to review and testing numerous prototypes with them over an eight month period. We always have the end user, the customer, in mind in product development. Because of this, time and time again we’re able to solve a specific and tangible problem through collaboration and innovation.”
The LowPro 100 is designed for fibre optic cable installations and maintenance, while also being able to bend around corners, be of high visibility, and anti-slip.
Two depth options are available, 20mm and 40mm and the 1m interlinking sections cover 75mm – 100mm wide trenches, making it more cost effective than other trench covers currently on the market.
