Skanska’s specialist teams completed the design, build, fit out, testing and commissioning of six new data halls for Virtus London 11 data centre. Working in a preexisting shell, they built and equipped the six 1,000sqm halls across three floors, using capital equipment procured by Virtus.
Project
The project included:
- external groundworks for external ducts
- construction of two primary substations
- creation of plant rooms within the building for water mist and UPS (uninterruptible power supply) rooms with associated battery rooms and input/output panels
- installation of two external gantries for generators, chillers, pumps, transformers, switch rooms, modular cooling systems and chillers
- construction of the data halls across three levels.
The project also required a resilient power and cooling infrastructure to support the critical data centre loads and complete fit out, testing and commissioning of the data halls.
Best practice in carbon reduction, quality and program efficiency
By maximising opportunities for program efficiencies and value engineering, our skilled teams brought numerous benefits to this project:
Altering the steelwork design and pipework for the chilled water system, enabled some elements to be moved from level 2 to level 1. This meant the size of the steel frames on the upper floor could be reduced – saving steel, enabling work to be brought forward in the program and giving carbon savings of around 33 tonnes of CO2.
Further carbon and cost savings were delivered through our temporary generators which powered the site during construction. The two main generators used HVO fuel, a sustainable diesel substitute made from 100% waste and vegetable oils. This reduced CO2e emissions by 66.3 tonnes. Added to that, we used a load management technique on the generators. Load management prevents generator overload by selectively cutting off power to specific devices based on priority. This helps regulate the flow of electricity, reduces power cuts, and increases fuel efficiency.
By increasing fuel efficiency, we saved both cost and carbon - savings over £7,200 on fuel and a further 300kg of CO2e emissions.
More benefits came from the extensive use of prefabricated components - from precut brackets to prefabricated buildings for switch rooms and pump houses. This reduced the number of deliveries during construction and helped speed up the program. Prefabricating modules in a factory also delivered a more consistent, better-quality product than on-site production.
Commissioning
The success of any data centre project depends heavily on commissioning and a seamless handover. That’s why our right first-time approach ensures a dedicated commissioning manager is involved from the beginning.
For Virtus 11, we had a detailed commissioning plan that was integrated into the overall construction program, we carried out testing throughout the program not just at the end, and we held daily commissioning meetings during the most critical phase of the project.
This approach delivered a first-class handover on this new facility for Virtus.
