MNP LLP

MNP LLP operates a national office portfolio and faced a problem common to any organisation that does: IT and network infrastructure whose quality, cost and reliability varied by region and by vendor. Working with MNP’s real estate team, Tekena answered it with the Adaptive Infrastructure Model™ — redeployable digital infrastructure that becomes a durable asset rather than a construction cost written off at the end of the fit-out.

What began in 2010 as a single pilot in Calgary is now a standing national programme: eight to ten projects a year, coast to coast, from major metro offices to rural branches, all built to the same repeatable National Corporate Standards.

MNP’s real estate team asked for a national standard — fit-outs that were consistent, repeatable, and that built assets within the organisation, rather than infrastructure re-specified and re-negotiated office by office. Prefabrication and modular construction were treated as requirements of that standard from the outset, not optional upgrades.

IT is so critical to our operation that we wanted a single high-quality supplier that we could depend on over the long term.

— Greg Bobyn, Director of Real Estate, MNP LLP

The Calgary pilot was the first deployment of the model to integrate IT and network services on a fully modular, redeployable basis. It proved the consistency the real estate team was looking for, and set the template for everything since.

Tekena was also the first vendor to establish a formal set of corporate design and deployment standards covering MNP’s low-voltage requirements nationally. Over the partnership, the standard has grown well beyond core cabling:

• Digital infrastructure and data racks — delivered through TekNET®, the prefabricated system that puts the model into practice on site.
• Sound masking and acoustic management — added to support MNP’s open-office environments.
• Audiovisual integration — layered into the standard scope.
• Desktop kit-of-parts — so MNP’s technology teams focus on Go Live, not project coordination.
• TekSMART™ engineering and documentation — the BOMs, drawings and lifecycle records behind every deployment, built into delivery rather than sourced separately.

Much of the annual volume is ordinary real estate work: expansion, increased density, floor reconfiguration, and moves as leases turn over. The model was built for that pattern of change, which is why MNP now applies it across all of those project types rather than procuring each one separately.

• Vendor consolidation — from three regional IT vendors per project to one accountable national partner.
• Coast-to-coast consistency — the same standards in a downtown regional headquarters or a rural branch.
• Assets rather than installations — every deployment can adapt and be redeployed as the footprint evolves.
• National warranty and support — issues resolved remotely or through Tekena’s national resources, freeing MNP’s internal IT teams from project-level coordination.

Because of the high quality and low deficiency, we are extremely satisfied. If there is ever a failure point, or a move or change, we know we can depend on Tekena to resolve it.

— Greg Bobyn, Director of Real Estate, MNP LLP

Reuse over replacement

The clearest proof of the model is what happens after installation day. A 25-year warranty is common in this industry, but with conventional cabling it rarely runs to term — the product is typically removed within five to ten years, driven by the lease cycle rather than its condition.

Because MNP’s infrastructure is modular and prefabricated, it behaves differently:

• Adaptive — components reconfigure and scale on site, on a compressed schedule, without re-running or re-terminating cabling.
• Redeployable — removed at lease expiry and reinstalled in another MNP office, carrying the same warranty and asset value forward instead of resetting to zero.
• Sustainable — reconfiguration draws on infrastructure MNP already owns, cutting material waste and lifecycle cost.

MNP treats the model, and the National Corporate Standards built around it, as a long-term strategic partnership rather than a vendor arrangement. Because every component is delivered to an industry-standard, repeatable specification, MNP retains the flexibility to sustain the system itself. As the national footprint continues to evolve, the partnership stands as a proven model for scalable, high-reliability infrastructure delivered consistently, market to market.

We’ve got reliable infrastructure that we think is of a higher quality than we would have otherwise received.

— Greg Bobyn, Director of Real Estate, MNP LLP