Data Centres
The very high specification climate control requirements of an
IT data centre or clean room environment require detailed knowledge
of specialist design, build, installation and maintenance
techniques.
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view the latest video detailing Data Centres.
Kimpton works with a number of leading blue chip organisations
and in several state-of-the-art data centres to ensure optimum
temperature conditions are met and maintained.
Consumer Manufacturing -
Data Centre
Maersk - Data Centre
Bradford & Bingley - Comms
Room
Consumer
Manufacturing - Data Centre
The Client
Employing 179,000 people in 100 countries across the world, this
food, personal hygiene and home care products manufacturer has a
turnover of €40 billion. A global market leader in all the food
categories in which it operates and for skin and deodorant
products, the company has 337 manufacturing sites spread across six
continents.
The Challenge
Following a restructuring of the company's European business to
create centres of expertise, the company decided to base its
IT services in the UK. As part of this strategy,
the client required a new data centre and a location was found on
the Wirral.
As the new data centre was to house the mainframe computer
supporting all the company's European operations, business
continuity planning was critical. As a result, the fit out
programme for the data centre not only needed to provide ideal
conditions for the IT equipment, it also had to be
extremely secure and vandal-resistant.
The Solution
Kimpton Building Services worked alongside its partners
Trustland Construction and The Rosebery Group as TKR to offer the
client a turnkey solution for the design & build, civil
engineering, structural and electrical project.
TKR carried out all the required civil and structural
modifications to the building, including installation of suspended
ceilings and partitions, and integrated raised computer flooring
system. The company also installed the specialist electrical
cabling required for the data centre's complex IT
equipment, including structured and fibre optic
cabling systems.
The heating, ventilation and cooling systems were all critical
to the success of the fit out, as the computer hardware must be
kept at optimum temperature and humidity to extend equipment life
and minimise the nuisance failure rate. The air
conditioning system installed keeps the data centre at a
constant temperature of 21° and is accurate to +/- 0.5°C, while the
atmosphere is controlled at 50% humidity, accurate to within +/-
5%. As the air conditioning system could potentially make the
building vulnerable to break ins or sabotage, TKR also disguised
the condensers to reduce this risk.
To enhance security at the building, not only did TKR install
Alarm systems and CCTV, the company was also responsible for
sophisticated access systems including card and fingerprint
recognition. In addition to safeguarding against intruders, the fit
out also made provision against IT failure from fire and power
outages with the installation of fire detection, alarm and
extinguisher equipment, along with standby power and UPS
systems.
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MAERSK - Data Centre
The Client
Established in 1904, Danish shipping and logistics giant,
Maersk, has grown into a global company employing 110,000 people in
125 countries worldwide.
The Challenge
Maersk took out a lease on floors 11 and 12 of The Plaza, a
prestigious office building on Liverpool's Old Hall Street,
offering the city's largest commercial floorplate. The building's
owners had refurbished the two storeys but had created a 'blank
canvass' office space for the new tenant to fit out to its own
requirements.
Amongst those requirements was a completely new data suite to
provide all the IT services to Maersk's new
offices. This area had to be kept at a constant and precise
temperature to ensure the smooth running of the client's IT
systems and prolong the life of the hardware.
The Solution
Offering the client a joined up approach and single point of
contact, Kimpton Building Services worked alongside Trustland
Construction and The Rosebery Group as TKR to tackle the £2 million
refurbishment project.
The two 27,000 sq ft floorplates were converted into manageable
work spaces, meeting rooms and offices with the installation of
glazed partitions. Walnut flooring was installed throughout and the
existing air conditioning system was stripped out
and replaced with the client's own specification.
For the data centre, TKR created an air tight,
pressurised room within the office area, with its own air
conditioning system, designed to keep the data centre at a constant
temperature of 21°C. The air conditioning system is accurate to +/-
0.5°C and the atmosphere is controlled at 50% humidity, accurate to
within +/- 5%. The team also installed complex cabling requirements
to ensure the fit out was futureproofed.
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Bradford & Bingley -
Comms Room
The Client
With roots going back to 1851, Bradford & Bingley is a
well-respected financial services specialist with customers across
the UK. It changed its mutual status to become a plc in 2000 and
now focuses on providing specialist mortgage and savings
products.
The Challenge
The comms room at Bradford & Bingley's headquarters in
Bingley was being updated with the installation of a new system to
back up its existing IT.
The new equipment was likely to cause an increase in temperature
in the comms room. As a result, the company needed to ensure that
the comms room remained fit for purpose, with the right air
conditioning system to keep temperatures and humidity
constant, prolonging equipment life and helping to avoid
unnecessary IT failures.
The Solution
Kimpton Building Services had carried out several projects at
Bradford & Bingley's HQ before and the company was able to
advise the client on the new air conditioning system for the comms
room.
Kimpton installed two Denco downflow close control air
conditioning units, giving a constant temperature of 21°C, accurate
to within +/- 0.5%. The air conditioning units
were programmed to report digitally to a central control system to
ensure an instant response should any fluctuation in temperature
take place. The old air conditioning units were also left in situ
to act as standby units.
Kimpton worked under business as usual conditions with all
IT systems running normally throughout the project
and achieved handover on schedule.
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