Progress continues with Phase 2 development works at Netwise London East (NLE), as we head into the warmer summer months.
Data Hall 2 is approaching completion, which will be another fantastic milestone to reach in the total development journey of our newest facility. There have been solid advancements made in all aspects of the Data Hall 2 roll-out, with the most notable being the progress made on power and cooling infrastructure.
As before, we’ll keep things brief, and move straight onto the progress shots:
Here we see the underfloor electrical containment starting in Data Hall 2The island area seen in the centre here is the eventual position of Pod 1 within this spaceThe containment provides direct pathways to every possible rack footprint within a data hall, and provides safe routes for all other supporting infrastructure cablingSeeing the containment routes come together is always a pleasing visual change in the sub-floor area of each hallAs with Data Hall 1, the underfloor power for racks in this space is deployed using several kilometres of cabling, to mounted underfloor commando socketsGreat care is taken to ensure that A and B power feeds to each client rack do not cross over, only meeting at the point of use / rackHere we see some of the immaculately laid cabling for the A-side feeds reaching Pod 2Each cable runs between a given rack position and the relevant power distribution board for that side of the power delivery systemHere we see the commando sockets at the point of termination, along with the earth bonding flowing in behind, for the racks and for the raised floor system itselfThe cable runs here ensure no cross-over between A and B feeds on the under-rack containment, which is now more visible at this stage of the installationAs always, we’re absolute sticklers for quality and detail, even when it will rarely / never be seenThe mains ring which spans the underfloor area and supplies our cleaners sockets is now also in placeThe cable drums for this part of the build are certainly smaller than those required for the LV room fitouts in Phase 1, but these still clock in at around 400kg per drumAside to underfloor cabling, the remaining bulk of the termination work is found in each of the four PDUs, and the dual-fed mechanical boards – all finished in striking orangeThe distribution boards have by far the highest concentration of terminations to be undertakenThe in-board terminations are just as carefully handled as everywhere else – a work of artThis is one of four power distribution boards in Data Hall 2The cold corridor area of Data Hall 2 has also continued to develop, as the evaporative system is now plumbed in for supply, and has its drainage in place, ready for commissioningThe hot air exhaust plenum is ready for the commissioning of the extract fans in due courseThe first floor store room has been acting as our development side office, providing a space for site meetings, plans, and all other items necessary for a project on this scale to move ahead successfully
Further to the visual updates above, the supplementary / backup air conditioning system is also nearing the point of commissioning, with the pipework installation underway, following the same routes as with the system for Data Hall 1.
Once Data Hall 2 is livened up in terms of the power delivery system(s), the full commissioning works for the primary and secondary cooling systems can begin, which will bring the room to the point of safe occupancy (pending the fitout of the containment Pods, of course!).
We’ve been extremely pleased with progress on-site in the last few weeks. One thing that continues to shine through above all else is the quality of the work, which is something we and our clients alike have come to expect from a Netwise data centre. Every detail is carefully considered, resulting in a truly remarkable facility that we can be proud of for many years to come.
Working Phase 2 around an already active data centre has added additional challenges, not felt during Phase 1 (whereby the site was unoccupied by client deployments). While none of the works undertaken as part of Phase 2 pose any risk to live client services, there are many considerations to bear for enabling continued client access while many areas of the facility are being actively worked on.
