Our role
LD5, a colocation data facility in the Thames Valley ‘tech’ corridor, has been developed for a US data client over several years, and the fit out of the final phase of 7000m2 of fallow space, plus supporting plant and infrastructure, began in February 2013.
The challenge
The works also consisted of the construction of external HV switchrooms, pump rooms and generator rooms together with an external screened gantry for the chillers. Our delivery approach was achieved under a fast track programme, facilitated by the Group’s modular design strategy. Utilising Digital Engineering methodology and modular components from Crown House Manufacturing in Oldbury, green design and energy efficiency were at the heart of the design principles for LDC5, with the client commercially and corporately highly-driven to improve on existing sites. The data centre industry faces increasing scrutiny of its carbon footprint, and developing the most green and energy efficient design possible is of mutual benefit to the client and its customers and the environment.
CHt’s ‘Mission Zero’ objective was 100% achieved with not a single incident or accident. Matching the success on site has been a highly successful community programme, with several site members and suppliers donating time and materials to a number of local initiatives.
The engineering behind our delivery
UPS
The UPS system uses a distributed load philosophy, minimising the number of units needed to provide the requisite level of resilience. This has the benefit of increasing the average load on each unit, pushing them into their peak efficiency operating region at the design load of 75%. Minimising the number of units also has reduced embodied energy implications, requiring fewer materials in manufacture and less transport. At site, this means fewer cables and less building space required, all with reduced embodied energy implications.
Free Cooling Air Cooled Chillers
Air cooled chillers with free cooling coils are used in the design. This improves efficiency for the proportion of the year when ambient temperatures are low enough to provide cooling without running compressors.
Fresh Air Cooling
The second floor of the building houses the majority of the electrical plant, including the UPS, associated switchgear and step down transformers. A fresh air cooling design has been developed for the concept which provides highly-efficient free cooling for the significant portion of the year when this is available, minimising the amount of mechanical cooling required. Expected energy savings over conventional methods of cooling this load are in the order of 95%. This load represents a worst case of approximately 8% of the total cooling load, meaning that total site-wide cooling energy consumption is reduced by approximately 6-7%.