Our facilities are able to meet the growing global demand for new and upgraded data centres. Here are examples of some of the major facilities that we have delivered to global clients.
Yorkshire, England £140m
The construction of this Tier 4 data centre comprised 32000m2 GIFA including 9000m2 of datahall space with bomb protection (an innovative new solution that saved both time and money), two independent DRUPs buildings each with a capacity for 14DRUPs, five cooling towers ( ultimate capacity for 12 at full load), two 11KV incoming substations, a self-contained and protected data centre operations command centre, and a state-of-the-art BMS/EMS centralized command centre.
With a reinforced concrete pad foundation, ground bearing slab and a hot and cold rolled structural steel frame, it included a complicated single-span roof structure, precast concrete bomb blast wall panels, profile decked concrete bomb blast ceiling slab and Corus Kalzip facades and roofs. Secondary steel support and fixings to the Kalzip facade and roofs were designed to withstand both very high wind gusts and external vehicle-delivered bomb attacks.
The project’s delivery was regarded as an exceptional achievement, accommodating a client change from a Tier 2 to a Tier 4 design midway through the construction program. Our rapid construction programme was enabled by extensive use of offsite manufacturing and assembly for MEP elements.
The project was awarded:
- BREEAM – Excellent for Design Award
- BREEAM – Excellent for Construction Award
Sydney, Australia AU $140m
The project is a design and construct contract, let as a two-stage bid because of the pace of delivery required by the client. Laing O’Rourke has employed an international MEP and civils design specialist, as well as the client’s local architects and structural engineers. The timescales for project delivery are 12 months from appointment.
The project is to be constructed in phases. The first phase will consist of a 2,300m2 cell of data hall space designed for 1,600watts/m2, or 3,750 kilowatts critical IT load. The first phase also includes M&E infrastructure support space, office, and other general support areas. The first phase also includes the shell construction for a second c. 2,300m2 data hall cell and MEP infrastructure support space.
The MEP infrastructure for each data hall cell is independent to minimise initial capital investment and allow future construction to be accomplished with minimal impact and risk to data centre operations.
It is planned that the site will ultimately have five data hall cells, each approximately 2,300m2 with 3,750 kilowatts critical load capacity in each data hall cell. The design conforms to the customer’s CRE tier 3 requirements and is concurrently maintainable. M&E infrastructure systems are designed with a minimum redundancy of n+1 for capacity components and distribution pathways.
A failure or maintenance outage of a single capacity component or distribution pathway will not impact the ability of the infrastructure systems to provide the required critical power and cooling capacity.
Loss prevention and risk management issues: Physical compartmentalisation and fire separation is provided to give a two-hour fire rating. The data halls and electrical switchrooms supporting are cooled using evaporative AHUs which are roof mounted, the data hall is constructed using hot aisle containment and a hot ceiling return air plenum.
Berkshire, England £34m
This project involved the infrastructure and fit out of co-location and plant areas for an international provider of carrier-neutral data centres and internet exchanges. With a Gross Internal Floor Area of 13,000m2 (10,000m2 of data hall and 2,000m2 of internal plantroom space), each data hall was progressively fitted out across eight zones as tenant demand required. Our highly flexible approach ensured the client could complete sectional handovers to new tenants areas wile maintaining 100% uptime to existing tenants. To enable fast-track fit-outs, chilled water pipe modules were fabricated off site.
A client quote to Laing O’Rourke stated: “Thank you very much for all of your hard work and the effort you made to deliver our data centre ahead of the planned date and in such good condition.”
Hertfordshire, England £65m
Our design, incorporating mass concrete panels hung from a structural steel frame, met the client’s demand for a blast-proof facility. Mass concrete panels were manufactured in-house. The total build area of the 11,300m2 tier 4 data centre included 3,000m2 of plantrooms, and a fallow area data space. It consisted of a concrete pad foundation and ground bearing slab with hot and cold rolled structural steel frame. Other notable aspects included a complicated single-span roof structure, profile decked concrete bomb blast ceiling slab and Corus Kalzip facades and roofs.
Served by two 4MVA supplies and backed up by diesel rotary UPSs, it provides 2N infrastructure resilience and fully independent fire-rated A&B plantrooms. Day 1 cooling requirements within the data halls are 800W/m2, with the capacity to increase to 1,600W/m2 for Day 2 requirements.
Awarded: BREEAM Excellent
Gloucestershire, England £65m
This tier 3 data centre covered a total build area of 10,605m2, including 3,016m2 of plantrooms and a 2,666m2 data hall. Built on an existing mission-critical data centre campus, it included both low density cooling and direct water cooled high density cabinets.
The project comprised the construction of the shell and core and fully integrated M&E fit-out, including the construction of pad foundations, ground beams, slab and perimeter upstand. Installation of steel frame with a two hour fire rating, concrete upper floors on metal deck, metal stairs and balustrades.
Other notable aspects included external metal cladding with internal liners to achieve the required two-hour rating, with insulated roof cladding, and fit-out of the internal spaces to provide for data hall, plantroom, security room and plant requirements. Ten 4MVA transformers, eight 2,500KVA generators were provided.
Awarded: LEED – Gold Award
Berkshire, England £75m
We were responsible for the fully integrated fit-out of data halls, ground floor block work, external steel gantry and plant to tier 3+ specification.
A collaborative completion management strategy, which we employed from an early stage, ensured a smooth commissioning and completion period up to and including ASHRAE Level 5 testing. The data centre included two 11kv incoming substations, supported by six 3MVA generators in an n+2 arrangement. There was also an n+1 UPS system to 2N input and output infrastructure, and five free cooling chillers and an ice storage system.
We also installed data cabling, mist and gas suppression, VESFA, fire alarms, leak detection, BMS, PMS and EMS systems.
Awarded: BREEAM – Excellent
LEED – Platinum
South East England £52m
With a total building footprint of 12,750m2 this steel framed and clad building included 2,000m2 of data hall and provision of a future 4,000m2.
Constructed for a global investment bank, we worked closely to develop the design with the client’s team to ensure modularisation could be incorporated efficiently within the demanding programme, despite a 20% increase in scope.
The project was delivered on time using our ‘one team’ approach.
Southern England £57m
Laing O’Rourke’s innovations and ‘one team’ approach in delivery ensured that this secure banking facility was the fastest delivered data centre in the UK.
The buildings overall footprint was 9,000m2, including 3,600m2 of data hall space and 1,800m2 for future fit out.
One of the key success factors for this project was the extensive use of offsite preassembly.
London England £52m
Our 2nd project for this an international provider of carrier-neutral data centres and internet exchanges. We have currently fitted out 8,000m2 of a possible 16,000m2 of co-location data hall and tenants’ bespoke suites.
The continuing extraordinary growth in internet usage, data storage requirements, and mobile device usage, the increasing cost of power, the emerging focus on sustainability and the management of energy consumption, are but a few of the factors that are creating a serious demand for new and upgraded data centres