Granemore Group wins second CityFibre contract worth £39m in Northampton

CityFibre, the UK’s leading alternative provider of wholesale full fibre infrastructure, has awarded existing contractor Granemore Group a city-wide build contract worth £39m for its rollout in Northampton. The project is the latest location in which build is underway as part of CityFibre’s £2.5bn Gigabit City investment programme, targeting full fibre rollout to more than 20% of the UK market by 2025. East Midlands-based Granemore Group was awarded CityFibre’s first city-wide construction contract in Milton Keynes last year. The subsequent award for construction of Northampton’s new full fibre network was in large part due to its demonstration of both speed and build-quality in the Milton Keynes rollout. Construction work on Northampton’s next generation fibre network has already begun and is due to last up to three years. The project will bring almost all residents, businesses and public sector sites in the city within reach of the future-proof network and gigabit-speed broadband services. The £2.5bn Gigabit City build programme targets the rollout of wholesale full fibre infrastructure to more than five million homes and businesses across more than 60 towns and cities by 2025. In a little over a year since its start, CityFibre has already mobilised in 27 towns and cities, has network construction underway in 16 of those cities and towns creating 1,600 construction jobs, and Gigabit-speed services already live in 10 cities. CityFibre’s Director of Supply Chain, James Thomas said: “We are delighted to award our Northampton Gigabit City project to the Granemore Group. Since starting our first project in Milton Keynes, Granemore Group has proven themselves a model build partner, delivering a consistently high standard of delivery and fast pace of build. Awarding them a second city contract within the region demonstrates our strategy to reward successful contractors with long term regionally-based work, enabling them to grow alongside us. This is further demonstration that CityFibre offers a real, sustainable and compelling alternative for the construction supply chain in telecoms.” Sean McGuigan, Director at Granemore Group said: “It’s fantastic to be awarded a second Gigabit City build project by CityFibre. We have worked extremely closely with CityFibre since starting to build in Milton Keynes and this award demonstrates our shared ambition to create a long-term strategic partnership. With growth and predictable production levels now under our control, we can provide CityFibre with the confidence it needs to award us further deployment projects. Northampton is now our second Gigabit City project in the region, this gives Granemore Group a fantastic opportunity to continually grow our investment within the local community with suppliers and the labour force.”