Formerly the Hardy Wine Company, founded in 1853, and Constellation Europe, Accolade Wines tops the pile as the UK and Australia’s largest producer and distributor of wine and sells some of the best known brands in all four corners of the globe.

As part of a significant expansion in it UK operations, Accolade Wines were planning an all new national distribution centre (NDC) in Avonmouth on the outskirts of Bristol. Sitting close to the bank of the River Severn, the new location would put Britain’s most centrally located deep sea port right on their doorstep, as well as access to the country’s main motorway networks.

The new state-of-the-art centre required a wireless network which would be able to cope with the demands of what was set to become the largest bonded warehouse in Europe, measuring an impressive 80,000m2. Accolade approached Ensign with brief to build a fully resilient, fast, reliable and secure wired and wireless infrastructure to cover the distribution centre, its production area and offices.

Coordinating with a number of other trades on what was a greenfield site, Ensign were heavily involved in the design process from the very early stages of the project. Working alongside Accolade, the route of the cabling and the trays that would house it were determined before the interior build began, ensuring a fast and efficient installation, whilst reducing any unforeseen problems on-site.

Often working at heights of up-to 17 metres, Ensign’s engineers deployed a wireless LAN consisting of 140 access points, 1,400 outlets and over 8.5Km of fibre-optic cabling.

The Outcome

With the behemoth warehousing, bottling and distribution operation now in full flow, Ensign’s network infrastructure is helping Accolade to fill up-to 400 glass bottles every minute, equating to an average of 130,000 cases of vino per day ready to be distributed around the United Kingdom.

Accolade has enjoyed a significant growth in demand for production since its operation on the Severn Estuary went live, and with more expansion of the site in the pipeline the successful partnership between Ensign and Accolade looks set to continue.

To find out more about Ensign wireless LAN solutions visit us – http://www.ensign-net.co.uk/