Case Study



The Client
Bullring in Birmingham is one of Europe's largest retail schemes and has seen the regeneration of much of the city's central core. Opened in September 2003, Bullring was developed by the Birmingham Alliance, comprising Hammerson plc, Henderson Global Investors Limited and Land Securities plc.

With 140 retailers spread over 1.2 million sq ft, Bullring's striking design has been applauded by the architectural community, with the iconic Selfridges building providing the city with a globally recognisable centrepiece.

The Challenge
Bullring's redevelopment had been highly anticipated for many years and it was vital that the entire centre, including the IP network, was completed by the opening date.

Redstone's primary aim was to enable advanced and beneficial communication between retailers and management and to integrate IT into the shopping experience.

The system needed to position Bullring at the forefront of UK retail, allowing retailers to hit shoppers quickly with the latest products, promotions and job opportunities.

The Solution
Redstone's unique OneNET™ solution provided Bullring with an end-to-end IP network based on Cisco's wireless and security technologies, capable of delivering integrated voice, video and data communications.

A multi-gigabit 350km cable infrastructure was installed to link every part of Bullring, providing IP telephony, high bandwidth dedicated Internet services, secure data hosting, backup and storage, video conferencing, IP CCTV security and an EPOS linked network. 

Amongst other facilities, the network enabled Bullring management to communicate with all retailers via a central intranet system, allowing news, health and safety guidelines and site maintenance updates to be co-ordinated across the centre. The retailers themselves were given the tools to submit job advertisements to Bullring management to upload quickly onto thirty customer information touchscreens installed by Redstone throughout the centre.

Ben Darji, Network Manager for Bullring comments: “In any retail environment, especially one the size of Bullring, the amount of information to be communicated between the management and retailers is significant. Using OneNET™, communication is immediate, efficient, and being paperless, saves a forest of trees”.

A number of added value services were enabled via OneNET™, including habit tracking, which allowed individual retailers to access shopper purchase records and tailor their stock and promotions to capitalise on up-to-the minute trends.

The Outcome
Redstone's OneNET™ solution received an enthusiastic response from shoppers and retailers. Within the first two months of Bullring's opening, over two million people used the in-centre touchscreens and the website became the number one shopping centre website in the UK.

Andrew Thomson, Information Systems Director for Hammerson plc commented: “I believe that OneNET™ provides a blueprint for all future shopping centre schemes and that Bullring is a benchmark against which all other developments will be measured.”

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