Deerns is reimagining ageing data centres as high-performance assets through smart engineering, sustainability upgrades and collaborative design excellence.
Upgrading a legacy data centre is no longer a question of choice. Across Europe, owners and operators are under growing pressure to enhance capacity, efficiency and resilience, while maintaining uninterrupted operation. At the same time, artificial intelligence, ESG compliance and changing regulatory landscapes are redefining what future-ready really means.
Understanding the Asset
Every successful upgrade begins with a clear view of the current facility. Legacy data centres offer both an opportunity and a challenge:
- A valuable existing power connection that can shorten delivery time.
- A physical envelope that may limit future expansion.
Power is often the single largest constraint. Many existing centres were designed for a fraction of today’s IT loads. Bringing them up to AI-ready performance requires both supply-side and site-side innovation that takes into account additional generator capacity, backup power, and modernised chillers to manage higher heat rejection.
Approvals and planning must evolve in parallel. Surrounding developments may now impose new acoustic or environmental restrictions, and evolving local building codes can mean additional obligations. These are not obstacles; they are opportunities to modernise responsibly.
The Environmental Imperative
Energy efficiency targets have become more stringent across the industry. Reducing Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) in older facilities is challenging but not impossible. Targeted upgrades to plant and equipment, from chillers and air handling units to advanced control systems, can deliver measurable performance gains.
Equally important is strategic compliance. Once a site undergoes significant modification, new environmental requirements often come into force. Deerns’ teams routinely guide clients through these transitions, ensuring that sustainability objectives align with operational realities.
Unlocking Value through Technical Due Diligence
Many new entrants to the data centre market prefer to acquire existing facilities rather than build from scratch. For them, technical due diligence is critical. Deerns evaluates current performance as well as the potential for expansion.
This process begins with a feasibility study that identifies opportunities for:
- Power and cooling upgrades
- Equipment replacement or refurbishment
- Space optimisation
- Regulatory compliance
The resulting report forms the basis for client discussions, cost planning and investment approval.
Designing for Zero Downtime
Upgrading a live data centre demands the precision of surgery. Interruptions are unacceptable. Deerns approaches this by integrating construction phasing and contingency plans into the design. Every method of procedure is documented, ensuring that all stakeholders, from operations teams to tenants, understand each step.
During detailed design, Deerns engineers collaborate closely with maintenance staff to avoid service disruptions. Selecting the right construction partners becomes an engineering decision as much as a commercial one. In live environments, experience is essential.
Deerns’ edge lies in our experience. With over a decade of experience working in live data centres, our engineers have perfected methods to deliver upgrades safely and efficiently. This boots-on-the-ground knowledge continuously feeds back into design practice. Regular lessons learned sessions between design and site teams ensure that every new project benefits from real world insights.
Diagnosing Weak Points
A frequent starting point for legacy upgrades is identifying Single Points of Failure (SPOFs) – components whose malfunction could compromise the entire operation. Deerns conducts on-site surveys and MEP system reviews to locate and eliminate such risks.
Maintenance history is another critical diagnostic tool. Poor maintenance shortens equipment lifespan and undermines reliability. Where necessary, Deerns inspects mechanical systems directly, assessing filters, coils and internal components before recommending refurbishment or replacement.
Alongside technical evaluation, documentation is key. Up to date Operations and Maintenance (O&M) manuals and risk registers are the backbone of a resilient facility. Deerns helps clients restore or create these frameworks, ensuring continuity of knowledge and control.
Towards Future Readiness
Becoming future-ready means designing with tomorrow’s loads, technologies and expectations in mind. That often involves rethinking power and cooling topologies. Traditional air-cooling systems are approaching their limits under AI driven computing densities. Hybrid solutions, which combine air and liquid cooling including rear door or immersion technologies, are increasingly viable even within existing infrastructure.
Deerns’ focus is on integration, not replacement. By adapting mechanical and electrical systems intelligently, operators can extend the life and capability of their assets while preparing for the next wave of demand.
Smart Energy, Shared Benefits
Future readiness is also about social responsibility. One Deerns project currently under way involves retrofitting a large data centre with a heat recovery system that transfers waste heat to a district heating network for nearby residential buildings. The engineering is complex but the impact is transformative:
- Free or low-cost heating for local communities.
- Reduced environmental footprint for the data centre.
- Enhanced public perception of data-centre value.
As energy prices rise, such circular energy models will become central to Europe’s data centre landscape.
From Legacy to Leadership
Physical limitations often shape what can be achieved. These are solvable through creative design, reinforcement strategies and selective equipment specification.
In a market where speed rivals sustainability in importance, Deerns accelerates delivery through phased, modular and prefabricated upgrades that add capacity within months without compromising safety or performance.
A data centre’s legacy should never be a limitation. With the right partners, it becomes the foundation for future success. Deerns combines engineering rigour, regulatory insight and hands on experience to transform yesterday’s infrastructure into tomorrow’s digital backbone.
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