London East Build Blog – Weeks 75 to 78

The pace has certainly picked up now, as we push towards phase one completion at London East.

This acute focus has left little time for the blog, and as broad strokes visual change has slowed down at this point, we’ve put together a four week short summary of the last month on-site at NLE.


Weekly overview

Phase one completion will see the facility ready to take its first clients, which is an enormous milestone for us here at Netwise.

There will still be some ongoing works beyond phase one, which will include things like our customer lounge and some other secondary niceties, as primary focus at this point is getting the technical spaces completed and ready to receive live client systems.

Looking slightly further ahead still, phase two will involve the preparation and roll-out of further technical space, making use of the other data halls, which given the amount of work put in ahead of time for this will certainly come to fruition much more quickly. This is expected in 2022, and will be based on a dynamic roll-out schedule, driven largely by demand.

The largest area of progress in this instalment of the build blog has been centred around air conditioning. This is not our primary cooling source in the technical spaces at NLE, with that role falling to our extremely efficient adiabatic systems, however traditional AC does still play a crucial role in both supplementary cooling in critical spaces, and comfort cooling in customer and staff areas.

Cooling
This is a view inside the cooling control system unit for Data Hall 1, as the internal termination reaches completion
Cooling
The pipework for both the supplementary CRAC systems and the comfort cooling throughout the building are comprised of some very long pipe runs, depending on the location of the internal equipment
Cooling
Some of the pipe runs for the AC systems have been fairly complex, because of their routes, and because of how split systems have their pipework distributed between endpoints
Cooling
One of the main convergent runs of AC pipework can be found on our storage mezzanine, as the runs cross towards the exterior condenser area
Cooling
Here we see one of the main runs coming together, which traverses the storage mezzanine before reaching the exterior skin and turning down towards the point of exit
Cooling
Power cabling also joins the pipework runs, with drainage to follow
Cooling
Here’s a snapshot of the complex manifold work happening in one of the ceilings, as the split systems are evenly distributed to ensure even pressure
Cooling
This is the AC unit in the build room and customer breakout area, as the cabling begins to be terminated internally
Cooling
All comfort cooling systems have in-room control panels
Cooling
This is the control panel for the system in another customer amenity space, which also allows for remote operation and monitoring
Cooling
Here we see some of the external condensers being worked on by our AC engineers
Cooling
The external condensers are laid out in a grid which enables plenty of future growth
Cooling
The larger condensers here are for the supplementary downflow units in the data halls, temporarily stood on their rubber feet ahead of permanent fixture
Lighting
Here we see the overhead lighting system installation underway in the cold corridor area for Data Hall 1 – this is where external air is filtered and processed for our primary CRAC system
Power
The UPSs and UPS switchboards are now in place and terminated in LV B, to match the state in LV A
Power
Our main LV switchboards in both LV rooms have now had their line diagram vinyls fitted, taking both boards to completion ahead of energisation for commissioning and setup
Power
The line diagrams are fitted to all switchboards, including the smaller sub-boards for the UPS systems
Racks
Here we see one of our custom designed security panels fitted to Pod 1 in Data Hall 1, for the privatisation of racks within said containment system
Razor
We’ve now fitted the razor wire to the top of our compound fencing, which aside from adding electric motor controls to the main gate, takes this area to completion
Razor
The razor wire now runs the entire perimeter of the facility
Razor
We designed a custom implementation of the razor wire retention system to allow for the retraction of our large vehicle access gate
Spraying
As part of the final stage of work, we’ve had any construction marks and / or damage on our metal clad panel walls repaired, which included full panel respraying where necessary
Spraying
Any panels with damage incurred during the build have been returned to factory condition
Spraying
The spray team were able to achieve a truly flawless finish
Spraying
We’re very pleased with the outcome of the retouch and repair works undertaken throughout the facility
VESDA
The VESDA pipework has now been installed in both LV rooms

As you can see, NLE is still an extremely busy site, with lots of finishing stage work underway. Yet so much more of the work being undertaken at this point is not of a visual nature; commissioning of power systems, access control, network setup, CCTV etc, these are all tasks with little to photograph. However progress across all of these areas will be relayed when suitable.

We’re certainly entering into an exciting period of the build, as major systems begin to see energisation for the first time.


What’s next?

More of the same as we head towards phase one end-out. Keep your eyes peeled for the next instalment of the blog, which will show much of the major infrastructure being onlined for the first time!