About Tamar Bridge
The Tamar Bridge is a key suspension bridge linking Saltash in Cornwall with Plymouth in Devon, carrying the A38 across the River Tamar. Opened in 1962, it is jointly owned and operated by Cornwall Council and Plymouth City Council. Handling over 16 million vehicles annually, the bridge is essential for regional travel and commerce. It underwent major upgrades in the early 2000s to widen and strengthen its structure without closing to traffic, an engineering first. Positioned alongside Brunel’s historic Royal Albert railway bridge, it remains a vital part of the South West’s transport infrastructure.
Requirement for Resilient IT
For over five years, Tamar Bridge had battled persistent issues with their legacy IT support provider. Key systems installed on day one never functioned correctly, and repeated requests for resolution were met with silence. Critical faults remained unresolved, despite an active support contract.
At the same time, Tamar Bridge was running its phone system on an ageing on-premises server that was no longer fit for purpose. With growing concerns around resilience and support gaps, the team knew it was time to modernise.
The Goals
The Tamar Bridge team set out with two clear objectives:
- Replace outdated telephony with a resilient, cloud-first platform
- Find an IT partner that could properly support their complex 24/7 operations
They also wanted a solution that would simplify communication and support their varied operational teams, from customer service to emergency control rooms.
The Telephony and IT Support Solution
Nexus delivered a complete cloud-based solution:
Microsoft Teams Phone System
Replacing desk phones and legacy infrastructure with a modern, flexible platform.
Luware Nimbus Contact Centre
Enabling intelligent call routing and automation across complex shift patterns and service areas.
Hands-on IT support
Nexus worked closely with Tamar Bridge’s teams and Luware’s Nimbus specialists to implement a custom call flow solution that supported 24-hour emergency response alongside day-to-day customer operations.
Why Nexus
“Nexus didn’t just turn up with a cookie-cutter approach,” Daryl noted. “They took the time to assess our setup and design a solution tailored to how we work.
From initial scoping through to post-deployment support, the experience was worlds apart from what Tamar Bridge had become used to. With Nexus, onboarding wasn’t just a tick-box exercise, it was an ongoing commitment to getting things right.”
The Impact
Tamar Bridge’s communications are now smoother, faster, and more resilient:
- Staff can connect instantly via Teams, using headsets or mobiles—no more clunky desk phones.
- The contact centre runs more efficiently, with Luware automatically routing calls to the right agent, eliminating the manual juggling that used to slow things down.
- Their emergency call handling now flexes automatically with time-of-day schedules, ensuring 24/7 coverage without hassle.
The team highlighted how even previously reluctant users have embraced the new systems.
“Nexus took the time to understand how we operate, and every step of the process felt collaborative. From scoping to post-launch tweaks, nothing was too much trouble. They don’t walk away once the system is in, they’re in it with you to make sure it works exactly as it should. That’s what sets them apart from every other IT partner we’ve worked with.”
Daryl Williams, ICT Assistant Manager
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The header image by Michael Chapman is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.