Data centre engineering

On a hyperscale campus in Finland of around 100 MW, three steel-framed data centres across a 122 hectare site, each of two levels plus admin and ancillary facilities, AOCA supported the building envelope contractor's façade and cladding engineering scope. Structural design to the Eurocodes, with buildability and programme in mind, is the core of what the practice does.

Roof and façade systems on a data centre have to be structurally sound, fire safe, moisture robust and thermally efficient, and they have to match the specification exactly. We design and analyse them, review the fire and condensation performance, and audit what is installed.

On a 52 MW campus in Dublin, two two-storey facilities of 32 MW and 20 MW on a 22 acre site, AOCA was appointed by the main contractor as quality auditor during construction, on site every two weeks to inspect all roofing and cladding against design and specification. On a 16 MW data centre in Wales we were the third-party design audit and construction inspection auditor for the envelope contractor, with a peer design review covering every aspect of the building envelope.

Data centre programmes are fast and the envelope package is on the critical path. We are used to working inside a main contractor's or an envelope contractor's team: answering technical queries quickly, coordinating in BIM, and giving the client an independent record that the installed envelope matches the design.