by Matt Seaton

London East Build Blog – Weeks 30 and 31

We’re very excited to show you another transformative fortnight of works on-site at NLE, as the internal envelope of our new data centre reaches full completion.

We’re now looking at a complete internal shell, giving us the physical structure we need to begin installing equipment and deploying electrical services.

Weekly overview

As you can see from the range of shots below, we’re now at a major turning point in this project. The internal shell has now been signed off as complete (with one final pass for minor snags pending), meaning we have the final internal structure of the building set and ready for the next phase of works that will take us into early 2021.

The facility is now presented with immaculate, high specification white spaces for all technical deployments, as well as our usual top tier front of house amenities, something our clients continue to take great advantage of at our London Central data centre.

Floor
A look at the flooring in Data Hall 3 as it moves across the space, towards completion
Floor
The floor reaching completion in Data Hall 4, as it hits the door aperture ahead of the door kit being installed
Floor
A view of the floor in Data Hall 3 as it encloses the mezzanine supports, which will have tiles cut in to fully wrap around
Floor
The completed raised access floor in the ground floor corridor area, with one of the door kits installed for entry to Data Hall 4
Floor
The floor being cut in around the access stair case in the atrium on the ground floor
Floor
The ground floor access atrium, showing a completed door system alongside an awaiting aperture, as well as the differing floor layouts across each space, so as to reflect the ceiling grids in each space exactly – thresholds will be installed between rooms
Doors
A look at the doors installed in the Build Room and Customer Breakout Area, showing a solid twin-leaf riser door set on the left, and the main room access door on the right, ajar
Doors
An open door set for entry into Data Hall 3 – all data halls have the same double-door setup for easy access with equipment
Doors
A look down the first floor corridor, with all door sets now installed
Doors
A set of solid twin-leaf doors for entry into one of our LV rooms, with a view out onto the ground floor loading platform in the warehouse area – our fully-integrated Paxton door access systems can also be seen here, as part of the door handle assembly
Envelope
A final pass of envelope finishing works are now also underway, with this shot showing a new custom finishing trim installed to cover the ground-to-first floor joining seam in our double-height atrium
Equipment
Here we see a pair of UPS’s and their associated battery enclosures, along with a set of core network racks, which are being held in one of our LV rooms – with temporary dust bags / wraps still in place
Equipment
This is an exciting shot, showing the first client enclosures placed in Data Hall 1, which gives an idea of real-world placement for the first time
Equipment
This angle shows placement of the first vent tiles, which will supply cool air from the underfloor plenum to the first pod of racks in Data Hall 1
Equipment
This contextual angle shows the placed racks in relation to the cooling plant, now sited at the rear of Data Hall 1, backing onto the cold corridor
Coolers
Here we see four CRECs in place on their custom plinths in Data Hall 1, which will cool the opening phase of this space, to be followed by a further four units when required
Coolers
This is a closer look at the next-generation CREC system that we’re installing at NLE, ahead of a fully custom blanking system for the currently empty cooler bays, which will also house our custom extraction system
Exterior
A night time exterior shot, taken from the front compound, looking towards our warehouse and loading bay

As you can see in some of the shots of our new doors above, we’re using a fully integrated Paxton system, with the card readers forming part of the handle assembly. This not only keeps our facility access installation as neat and as clean as possible, but will also massively improve the time to onlining the system, as these readers operate wirelessly.

We’ve also been working on some addition access infrastructure, including our main entrance turnstile, and the pedestrian access gates which lead from reception into the technical side of the facility; more on this next time.

All of our lighting cable specifications are now with our manufacturer, who are going to be assembling these for us for compatibility with our Klik system. These are all being made to length, using the specialist Klik hardware, which will enable rapid installation to the overhead grid once it all arrives on-site. This will allow us to light all rooms using the overhead LED panels, and allow for the removal of all temporary site lighting.

We’re incredibly excited to have reached this point, as we now begin what will be the most critical phase of technical works – preparing to properly energise the facility. This is still a little way off of course, however we are now moving into the set of works that will enable this to happen.

What else has been happening?

After a lengthy wait while we got everything just right, we’re now also in a position to tease our new van, which will be the first of our new fleet – aptly named ‘001’.

Van
The side of our van features both our main logo, as well as an oversized matt finish logomark as an abstract background
Van
The rear of the van features a full Chapter 8 chevron kit, as well as more detailing on the door panels – amber light bar still to follow

This, coupled with our custom flight cases, makes inter-facility migrations and new deployments an absolute breeze.

Since our last instalment of the build blog, we’ve also seen new restrictions come into play with regards to the national response to COVID-19. We are of course following these guidelines closely, as we did during the first set of restrictions earlier this year, and will continue to do so.

As a result, we’ve now implemented Test and Trace QR codes at both of our sites, which should be used during normal check in procedures. This helps us to keep everyone safe, and to keep our facilities running without a hitch 24×7, as your businesses rely more heavily than ever before on remote services held within data centres.

What’s next?

With the envelope now complete, we will be moving onto electrical works in the very near future. This includes both internal LV work, and external HV work.

On the lead up to this next phase beginning, we will be undertaking a wide range of tasks to bring other aspects of the project either to completion, or to a stage that makes their completion post-electrical works much more straight forward.