Increasing data storage capacity within the urban constraints of London, the UK, meant converting an existing building into a seven-storey 4.5 MW mission critical data centre. Cloud House also offers available office space all within easy access of Canary Wharf, The City and London’s many transport links. Deerns was involved for the mechanical, electrical, controls and public health engineering design.
Careful design work
Deerns led the MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) designs for the refurbishment of the building, which was stripped back to the shell of the building and rebuilt with 4 floors of white space for the server installations. The annualized average PUE for the facility is extremely low thanks to the approach taken.
We also assessed utilising the adjacent Millwall Dock as a primary cooling medium for the facility’s IT infrastructure and ancillary loads. Exceptional care was taken to ensure that we could do this whilst also preventing damage to the contained eco-system by restricting the outlet water temperature and preventing marine life from entering the primary cooling installation, thus preventing potential damage and downtime for the facility. Therefore, the outlet temperature from the facility was restricted to a maximum 28 degrees Celsius. Special self-cleaning water inlet filters were utilised to ensure no small fish, eels, silt, and detritus were sucked into the primary cooling installation.
Installation work in pieces
Due to the limited access from the surrounding area to the project the delivery and installation of the generators had to be carefully planned. Furthermore, the plant as it was designed was “broken down” in manageable sections from the factory. These were then re-built and re-tested in situ.
BREEAM Excellent
Opened in 2020, Cloud House is the newest data centre facility within London, and achieved a BREEAM Excellent Rating. It offers state-of-the-art facilities, as well as the highly energy efficient Dock Water cooling system. By sustainably processing deep water from the neighbouring Thames River, Cloud House offers customers the highest standards of sustainability to support their ESG business goals. It is a highly secure space with access to 195+ leading carriers, internet providers and all the major cloud providers.
