Shell Island Case Study 

Situation: Shell Island, a successful and well-known holiday park needed to be improved broadband so their visitors can be fully connected during their stay.  

The estuary floods the whole area at high tide, hence turning the area into an island. Trenching to put the necessary technology in would be unsatisfactory as the road is raised on boulders, to elevate above tides.  Also, the composition of the earth would not allow, so the only way to go was below ground.  

Objective: To enable MJ Quinn’s project for communication connections to Shell Island by installing ducts (semi-flexible plastic pipe) to house their fibre optic cables. 

Our challenge was to put in 500m of these ducts to reach from the mainland to Shell Island.  

Action: We scoped the job carefully taking the geographical factors into account.  We knew this would mean working with the tide tables which necessitated our team taking a flexible approach and they worked hard over weekends and early starts. 

Our drill rig directionally steered the duct down the side of the elevated road below the seabed 
4m deep at the lowest point below the estuary.   

Any materials used were environmentally friendly as this is a natural area rich in animal and bird life.   

Result: Drawcords were left in ducts for MJ Quinn to pull their cables through.   

BT was so interested in our methods and application that they brought cameras down to film.   

An extra bonus is the lads got new wellies for this job.  An even better bonus is that we saw a wild mink whilst stepping out of the surrounding area. 

Aftermath: Future visitors to the site can remain connected as they now have superfast WiFi.  There is no unsightly patched trench or weakened road surface.   

All of us at Mole are looking forward to returning to Shell Island for a break.  This is a truly beautiful place with a wealth of natural beauty (and of course internet connection!).  

(Mole Group make people’s lives easier but no one actually sees what we do!)