The historic Royal Institute buildings have been brought up-to-date with an upgraded computer network.

The institute, home to the televised Christmas lectures, commissioned a system to provide direct communication with members and handle internet booking for lectures.

Sayers Common-based Pavilion Computing has completed the £200,000 first phase of the contract to provide a fault-tolerant local area network and continued the work to develop a more complex system.

Cabling was hidden from sight behind false ceilings and in under-floor ducts which had not been opened for decades.

Trevor Mould, Pavilion Computing sales and marketing director, said: "The technology deployed at the Royal Institution is the culmination of expertise drawn from all parts of our organisation, resulting in a network which will cater for the organisation's development well into the future."