Design ingenuity leads to award-winning data centre in Bristol
A new Future-Tech designed data centre in Bristol City Council’s listed Head Quarters won the Innovation in the Micro-Data Centre Award at the 2009 Datacentre Leaders Awards. According to the judges, small may be beautiful, but the design and operation of data centres of fewer than 20 racks brings it its own problems of space utilisation, power distribution and back-up, cooling, access and security. Most micro-data centres are situated in buildings designed primarily for purposes other than housing IT and this may accentuate the challenges of designing and operating a micro-data centre. Working with Future-Tech, Bristol City Council achieved an elegant solution to a tricky problem.
The new data centre is housed in the basement of the listed ‘Council House’ in the heart of the City. While not as old as many other listed buildings – it was built between 1938 and 1948, the Council House was never designed to house modern IT equipment. While the project involved re-siting two existing UPSs, it was almost entirely a new-build using a modular room construction. As the room is below ground level, it was essential to ensure there would be no water ingress.
“There were several constraints in the brief that we needed to address,” commented Future-Tech Project Manager Jason Bown. “The client wanted a low Power Utilisation Effectiveness (PUE) figure, and to have a low TCO measured over 10 years. Neither the construction nor the operational room could cause any noise problems in the council chamber – and everything we suggested needed to be approved by English Heritage, given the building’s listed status.”
The project involved a complete strip-out and refurbishment of the existing space and construction of the new modular room with raised access flooring. Future-Tech were responsible for installing all the electrical switchgear and other electrics, fire detection and suppression systems, leak detection, BMS and full security measures, including door access controls and CCTV. However, the aspect of the design that first won Bristol City Council and later the award judges’ attention was the air conditioning solution.
The air conditioning comprises two water-cooled DX CRAC units which reject heat via a heat exchanger to the ‘Moat’ – an ornamental pond running along the front of the building. Meeting an important ‘green’ requirement for the project, this enables free cooling of the room for the vast majority of the year. There is also a back-up system of dry coolers with the external plant housed in a light well out of sight of anyone viewing the building from ground level.
The ‘day one’ deployment in the new room is 12 cabs and a 60kW IT load. The room has enclosed hot aisles designed to run at 30o C (with scope to increase the running temperature to 35o C if required) thus reducing the need for cooling further. The solution is future-proofed and can be expanded to 24 cabs and a 120kW IT load at a future date.
“Future-Tech impressed us from the outset,” commented John Willis, Bristol City council’s Project Manager for the data centre build. “They listened to the brief and came back with a plan that met our requirement for an energy-efficient solution. They weren’t he lowest bidder, but offered the best response to the brief – and when questioned, had the evidence to back up their claims. On-site, they were a very good organisation to work with. They were flexible and responsive to our needs – not easy in a busy building which plays host to everything from council meetings to weddings. In fact, our Facilities Manager was very impressed with the way they conducted themselves.
“They delivered a very good – and now award-winning - data centre and will continue to work with us on its maintenance in the future.”
For more information contact Future-Tech on 0845 9000 127
Email: info@future-tech.co.uk
