We have more exciting progress to share in this instalment of the Build Blog, as cabling continues to run into the facility at pace.
This progress has been seen across the board, from the largest runs out to external connection points, right down to the smallest termination points inside of the Data Hall PDUs.
Weekly overview
In the last two weeks, we’ve doubled the labour force involved in the electrical side of the project, adding a dedicated cable gang to the on-site trades to help push through the final cable runs, most of which are very substantial armoured cables.
This has seen the vast majority of the on-site cable drums emptied and returned to the vendor, as the cables now lay in place, with termination well underway across the board.
We also have a dedicated jointer on-site, who is heading up much of the largest termination activity, such as inside the generator canopies.
The first set of cables that make use of the external ladder runs out to the transformer, seen in place hereAnother view of the first set of cables on the transformer-to-LV room routeThis run takes cables all the way out to the transformer enclosure – these are again in a trefoil cleat arrangement, as with the LV Room interlink cablesThe GRP enclosure for the transformer now in place atop the previously poured baseThe cables that connect to the transformer take a direct route around the perimeter of the front compound, with rear-mounted security panelling to be installed soonAnother view of this particular containment run in the front compoundThis is the view back towards the building, with the containment and cabling penetrating the skin of the building, pending final capping and fireproofingSome of the newly emptied cable drums, which have since had their contents run into the facilityTermination of the main LV boards is now well underway, with a view here inside one of the main enclosures in LV Room AAnother of the main enclosures in LV Room A, with the termination now completeThis is a view of one of the main enclosures prior to any termination, after glandingHere we see one of the same enclosures mid-way through terminationThe same enclosure as it reaches completionThis view under one of the LV Room floors shows the next layer of containment and cabling going in over the top of the base layerA view of some of the ladder work on the first floor, which now contains the runs which will feed Data Hall 1 with protected, conditioned powerA look inside one of the PDUs in Data Hall 1, as the final termination beginsThis view shows some of the cables as they make use of the riser in LV Room BThis is the view of the external containment which heads to the generators, as the cabling nears completionAnother view of the generator cables as they enter the buildingA look across the rear of the generators, where this cabling will soon enter each unitThe generator cables enter the building here, and then pass into LV Room A for onward handling – these holes will all be fire stopped and finished with tight-fitting decorated panelsThe transformer route shown here now contains all cabling as necessary to liven up the site during commissioningAnother view of the transformer cabling, with the earthing now in placeA view of the transformer cabling as it reaches the enclosure, ready for connection into the transformer once that is installedHere we see one of our custom ODFs, of which there are two in Data Hall 1 for diversity – this angle shows the installed overhead cable ladder bridging across to Pod 1The VESDA pipework installation is now underway in Data Hall 1A look at the pipework as it begins to be installed along air pathways, in this case on the supplementary CRAC unit intakes, which now have their automatic dampers fittedThe pipework is also installed along the main CREC exhaust and recirculation louvres
This has been a fantastic fortnight for project development, with tremendous progress on the cabling side of things.
We’ve been very excited to see all of the cabling begin to disappear under the floor and into the risers, ready for termination and testing. We’re also very excited to see some additional visual elements installed, such as the bright red VESDA air sampling pipework.
What’s next?
We will continue with progress on all things electrical. As cable pulling nears completion, focus will shift more completely onto termination, along with supplementary power installations, including small scale non-critical power delivery to things like cleaner’s sockets.
Beyond this, the VESDA pipework installations will continue, and with the arrival of additional cabling for things such as the CREC control and monitoring system, this will also begin to take shape.
Focus on the Build Blog this time around has been firmly on progress with cabling and containment, which continues to develop across the entire site.
A hefty quantity of the largest internal cabling is now all in place, totalling around 8 tonnes. This will now be terminated, along with a host of smaller internal cabling, while additional large external cabling is run in thereafter, as we head ever closer to energisation at London East.
Weekly overview
We’ll get straight into the photos again this time around, as we take a look at cabling and containment developments on-site at NLE.
Containment has now firmly breached into the exterior areas of the new site, with the runs to the four generators taking shape hereAnother view of the generator containment as it works its way around to the point of entry on each gen setA closer view of the twin ladder runs out to the generators, to account for the large quantity of cabling required to connect these units back to the main switchboards and controllersWhat look to be simple drops across to the generators actually required considerable effort, as solid concrete and brickwork edging had to be excavated to allow for the ladder to pass through to the required locationOn the other side of the front compound, the twin ladder runs to the transformer have started to be installedHere we see the supporting slotted channel being prepared for installation on this solid block wall, which will house the transformer cable runs as they pass into the buildingThe external skin of the building has been modified to allow cabling to enter and pass along this routeHere’s a view of the uncovered cable ladder which sits under the floor in the ground floor access corridorHere we seem a temporary blanking panel in place until the ladder is ready to pass through the building – additional tray is being run in to hold AC pipework for traditional systems that will support supplementary areas of the buildingThe transformer base is now ready for the installation of the GRP enclosure, and the transformer itselfThis is a view inside of LV Room B, as some of the large ~300kg inter-room cables are run in, which will link the LV boards for various functions / reasons – they are simply laid in loose at this point in timeThis is the drum of cabling for connecting out to the generators, which clocks in at 2.2 tonnesOne of the first drums to be emptied – this was a 1.8 tonne spool, which is now all run in under the floor between the LV rooms – this will be modified and become an outside table for clients to useAnother finished drum, slightly smaller this time, equating to around 1.2 tonnesA look into LV Room A, with the cabling being pulled into its trefoil cleats A view into the main LV Room cabling route as they enter LV Room B, showing the cleats as they hold the cables down to the floor mounted channelAnother view into LV Room B as the routes continue to take shape, and the tails are fed all the way into the boardsEarth cable being pulled into the floor, which again will interconnect the LV RoomsA view into LV Room A, as the earth cables are laid into position ahead of cleatingHere we see the earth cabling being pulled into its cleated arrangement, which brings this main route to its full stateA look down the main cable route between LV Rooms, showing the multiple trefoils and earthing bundles and they run between the two main boards
As you can see, the main focus here has been on continued progression with cabling and containment, which will continue into the next instalment of the Build Blog.
As always, other works have of course been underway, both in the development of London East, and elsewhere across our ever-growing operation, however we’re keeping this post concise and on topic.
What’s next?
As with the previous ‘what’s next?’ update, we’re looking at more of the same over the next few weeks. We have a vast amount of cabling and termination to undertake, which we hope to see nearing completion by the time we next post to the Build Blog.
We’ll also be moving onto further work on fire and VESDA systems, and will be moving ahead with commissioning on cooling systems, as well as continued work on power, such as the roll out of ‘small power infrastructure’ (supplementary building-wide power sockets for cleaning equipment etc).
Vast changes again this time, as the electrical works push on at pace both inside and outside of the new facility.
While visually the site now appears a little less finished than before, with masses of flooring taken up to accommodate the newly installed containment and cabling, from a more wholistic view point, things are pushing forwards in a big way at the moment.
Weekly overview
The pace of work and progress on-site has certainly been turned up a gear, as multiple trades now work together on various aspects of the facility’s power systems, alongside work on other related areas to maintain solid progression throughout.
We have a lot of photos to present this time around, so rather than spending too much time on the introduction, we’ll let them do the talking.
Our LV boards have arrived with us, split across two deliveries due to their sizeThis first batch of boards shown here are destined for LV Room AWe were able to swing the boards right into the loading bay, ready for pre-staging ahead of them being rolled into their final position on their respective plinthsThe first couple of sections of the board now coupled together in LV Room AHere we can see into the gland plate enclosures, where the large armoured cables will soon enter the boards to feed the various breakers seen in the chambers aboveHere is another view of LV Room A, with the UPS Boards now also in their final places opposite the main boardThe size of these boards makes taking a photo of them tricky – getting them all in view is nearly impossible – a wide angle lens in on our shopping list!A view from the door of LV Room A, looking towards the boards now full situated, coupled, levelled and locked offThis is the view down one of the risers, as the containment between floors begins to take shape, and specialist containment for fire cable routes is run inA look at some of the containment in place to hold the ladder work under the floorHere we see the floor starting to go back down in Data Hall 1, now that the whips are in place – more on that further down in this postAnother view of the floor back in place at the rear of Row A in Pod 1, with only the termination at the PDU end to goLots of inter-room pathways have been made for cable routes in the past few weeksThe largest cables will be cleated to the ground, with slotted channel now fixed to the ground along these routes to accommodate thisHere we see the slotted channel in place under the floor in the LV RoomsThe main containment runs out to the generators are also starting to take shapeFurther progress has also been made outside the building, with the trenches dug for the ducting that will carry our HV feeds into our demiseThe main run of trench to take the ductwork out to the roadsideHere’s a look at the poured transformer base, with the shutter forming fully removedA look at some of the machinery on-site to undertake the ground workThe trench continues to the road, with steel plates in place to bridge the gap for access while the top remains openHere we see some of the smaller drums of earth cabling for this phase of the project arriving to siteHere’s one of the larger drums of earth cable, clocking in at around 750kgSome more of the earth cabling in storage, along with a large quantity of the ladder to be installed around the facilityA sizable delivery of the larger armoured cabling that will run between the LV rooms, and to the Data HallsSome of these drums are around 2 metres in diameter, with the delivery clocking in at circa eight tonnesSome more of the drums inside, awaiting their time to land on the large 10 tonne axels we have for pulling them in – each single length of cable can weigh as much as 300kg, and needs to be pulled in using special rollersA view of the cabling as it is laid under the floor, between the LV RoomsMuch of the floor has come up to allow for the cabling to be routed, along with the temporary removal of the UPS boardsThe cabling has been partly stripped here, and installed into the gland plate ready for eventual terminationThis view shows the cables starting to be cleated together, which run the width of the building between the two LV Rooms – there are 15 more cables to join this first threeThe first set of cables reaching LV Room B, which will interlink the two boardsThis view further shows some of the underfloor containment, which is multi-layered in the LV Rooms (top layer removed here)This is a view of the now completed cabinet-side whip cabling in Data Hall 1, which will feed each of the racks with diverse powerThis room alone has eaten up over 2km of cabling, with well over 3,000 ties holding it all down to the trayData Hall 1 has been flood cabled with feeds for all eventual rack locations, including the currently vacant spots for Pod 2Diverse cable routes always take pathways which reduce cross-over, in this instance only happening once, where A and B feeds need to move past each other as each pod is cross-fed – a cable bridge has been installed to handle thisAs always, the devil is in the detail, and we’re very pleased with how the underfloor cabling has come together in Data Hall 1A view down the length of Row B, with all commando sockets in place, and earth bonding for both the racks and the raised floor visibleThe A and B feeds to each rack only converge at the rack itself, otherwise maintaining fully separated routes throughoutKeeping routes so strictly diverse in this way requires far more cabling and containment, which comes with a great deal of additional cost and labour, however it is vital for true client-facing A/B redundancy
As you can see, it’s been a busy few weeks on-site here at NLE.
Things are certainly ramping up as we move into the closing stages of the opening phase of the project, which will allow our first clients to install kit into Data Hall 1.
It’s certainly a rather intense time to be a part of the NLE project, as multiple trades push on with various aspects of the build in tandem, ultimately taking us towards the finish line at pace, and in line with expectations on our phase one launch.
What’s next?
For the time being, much of the same. Progress will continue on electrical over the coming weeks, and we will also be pushing ahead with other areas, including the various cooling systems throughout the facility.
We have a very exciting instalment of the build blog this time around, as we see masses of containment and cabling begin to roll into position at London East, along with civil works for our HV mains incomers.
This is another major turning point in the development of the new facility, as we head ever closer to energising the site ready for client deployments.
Weekly overview
Massive change has begun in earnest this week, as masses of under floor containment begins to flow into Data Hall 1. This has been flood cabled, and the installation team will then move onto the main containment runs which allow for cabling between the upstairs data halls and the downstairs LV rooms.
We’ve also got major civils happening both on-site and in the local area, as our incomers make their way to us, along with our first dark fibre links.
The underfloor containment for the commando whips being installed in Data Hall 1A closer look at the containment runs which flank Pod 1 in Data Hall 1This containment will carry the A and B feed whips from each side of the in-room power distribution units, along with some supplementary supplies for M&E equipmentA view across Data Hall 1, from the eventual position of Pod 2, looking at Pod 1 as it floats above the containment being installed underneathHere we see the containment being installed around the central supporting platform for Pod 2, or whichever additional pod layouts are required in Data Hall 1Containment beyond Data Hall 1 spans the entire building, including the risers, one of which is pictured here with preparative works underway for cable ladder installation The electrical boards have been installed on their custom plinths in Data Hall 1, on both A and B sides – the A side boards are pictured here, along with the M&E board which has an integral ATS to handle twin incomers from the LV roomsA closer look at the underside of the A-side boards, with the cable entry and exit pathway for A incomers and A-side whipsThese are the B-side power distribution units, which are installed on the opposite side of Data Hall 1While Data Hall 2 will likely remain as empty white space for a little while, we’re pre-installing the electrical infrastructure, including the in-room PDUs as seen hereThe plinths and bases are installed on the other side of Data Hall 2 here, with the PDUs being prepared for installation atop these shortlyThe Data Hall 2 PDUs being prepared ahead of installation on the associated plinths and expansion enclosuresThe first drum of cable on axle stands in Data Hall 1 for commando whips – this is the first run of over 2km of power cabling for this room aloneThe first rack commando feeds being loose laid onto the basketSome of the whips, because of the careful consideration of runs to avoid parallel runs and cross-over, are extremely long, and as such our corridors have proven helpful for preparation ahead of pulling inOur HV supply is making its way to us from the relevant substations, with a view of the route works on the surrounding roads on the trading estateAnother view of the road works, which have spanned the entire length of Cody Road for delivery to usThe works have required careful closure control across considerable distances, as have the civil works for our fibre routesOur LV rooms are prepped and ready for the boards to arrive, which are landing with us early next week – an exciting milestoneData Hall 4 has been doubling up as a trades canteen and plans overview space while various contractors are on-siteThe first of the ground works equipment arriving on-site, ready to begin digging in our transformer baseDuring the dig, we had a daily collection of outcoming ground materials to keep the working area clearThe shutter forms in place for the pour of the highly complex, reinforced transformer baseThe pour of the base will be undertaken early next week, ahead of the transformer enclosure arriving shortly thereafterAdditional works have been underway in other areas, including final containment runs for the LV room VESDA and fire systems – these continue on into the risers, which are having twin-run trunking installed to handle all fire systems in these roomsThe steel conduit bending station as setup in Data Hall 4, which has allowed for the smooth bend radius forming of conduit which needs to change directions
As you can see, things are changing rapidly now that the main electrical works are underway. Next week, we’re expecting to see completion on the in-room work for Data Hall 1, meaning containment works will begin in the LV rooms, and all of the runs in between.
We’re now eagerly awaiting the arrival of the large LV switchboards, which will be an exciting development for us. It’s a part of the project that we’ve been excited to see take shape, and an area of enormous financial investment.
While the base of the transformer may appear to be a somewhat simple hole in the ground, and a straightforward concrete pour, in reality it’s anything but. The internal rebar structure has been welded on-site, and is bonded directly to very deep earthing rods to ensure safety during operation.
Once Data Hall 1 is phase one complete on commando cabling, our team will move in to complete some additional items, including M&E feeds for cooling, VESDA pipework, ODF installation for network and fibre, and other related containment and cabling pieces.
What else has been happening?
We’ve extended our reach in Telehouse through to North 2.
As part of a private client deployment, we’ve rolled out two new racks in North 2, and as part of this we’ve now got diverse 10Gbps feeds from our network delivered into the building, from our Supernode in North, and our core node in HEX / LD8.
We’re excited to see our network continue to grow, reaching new facilities as our transit proposition helps business grow their presence online.
What’s next?
We’ve really just got lots of the same coming up; containment and cabling for the most part, throughout the facility, as we head towards energisation.
This will include works on the HV and transformer side, and will lead onto various M&E works including cooling power, data, control, and further leading on from that, VESDA air sample pipework.
Another period of exciting change and development on-site at NLE, as we continue to move towards phase one completion and readiness for the first clients to enter Data Hall 1.
We’ve seen the most notable changes in cooling and electrical, with major physical advancements in both of these critical areas.
Weekly overview
This latest period of work most keenly focused on major adjustments to our roof, through the installation of seven custom exhaust cowls which form the atmospheric extraction loop for the evaporative cooling system in Data Hall 1.
Here we see six of the seven extraction roof cowls for Data Hall 1 installed on the roof of the building, over the cold corridorAnother view of the cowls from the roof, which allow for hot air to leave the building when not required as part of the recirculation loopThe view inside one of the cowls, which are the high velocity variant, given the amount of air each fan can move at full speed – visible here are the self-closing lids and the bird meshThis is the view inside the cold corridor, looking directly up at the custom containment frame which holds the fans and custom blanks – more fans will be added as required for each hallA wider view from inside – this view of the fans and frame will soon be hidden, as a sub-ceiling is to be installed here, to keep cold intake and hot extraction separatedA closer look at one of the extraction fans, with the fibre glass lids visible through the blades – we’re using Ziehl Abegg fans throughout, as deployed to great success at London Central (some of which have been spinning without any interruption since 2015!)Although we’ve already shown the newly completed loading dock setup in the warehouse, here is a wider view of the first floor assembly, to match that seen on the ground floorOur new master building fire panel is now in place, ahead of final commissioning – this new system is considerably larger and more feature-rich than the system it’s replacingA closer view of the new building fire panel, which interconnects with all detectors, beacons and sounders, along with the extinguishant panels and VESDA systems in each data hall / plant roomHere we see our custom designed plinths being fitted and levelled in one of the LV electrical rooms, which will soon take our main switchgearA view of the main switchgear plinths in the A-side LV room, now levelled and with the floor refinished to the new edgesThis is a view across the A-side LV room, also showing the smaller plinths in place to house the UPS switchgear for this spaceThis is the same view inside of the B-side LV roomA wider view from the B-side LV room, showing the scale of the main switchboards (the B-side board is ~7 metres long!)We’ve now begun preparing the main risers for cable ladder and other containment, which is set for installation next week ahead of flood cabling and commissioning the site throughout JuneHere we see one of our custom designed cableway enclosures, sat atop one of the newly installed plinths – our custom Mardix transfer boards then sit on top of these enclosures, in each LV room and data hallThis is one of the custom transfer boards being pre-staged ahead of fitment to the plinth and cableway enclosure, as seen aboveThis is the transfer board for the B-side LV room in place and fully tied into the wall, ready for commissioning in due courseA closer view of the transfer board in the B-side LV room – the custom Netwise orange finish really pops against the monochrome technical space colour palette The same board, but reflected in the A-side LV room
We’re very happy with progress over the past few weeks, as we march further into the final stage of deployment for phase one.
Much of the work this time around has been labour intensive and highly physical, resulting in massive adjustments to both the cooling and electrical sides of the project. This all sets up nicely for the building-wide under floor containment to be installed from next week, leading into a four week period of high-activity on-site as the facility is energised.
We’ve reached a relatively pivotal point in the project now, in that the dominoes we’ve been lining up throughout the last few weeks / months are now ready to be pushed, which will lead to massive change in the next four to six weeks. Ultimately, this next phase will take us through to onlining and commissioning, and put us in a position to bring the first client systems online, and launch the site as phase one (aka Data Hall 1) completes.
What else has been happening?
Aside to the usual build works, we’ve also been hard at work implementing wider improvements across our operation.
Our London Central facility enjoyed a deep clean last week, including a full re-coating of the anti-static floor in all technical spaces.
We upgraded our core routing fabric in Telehouse North, as we prepare to deploy additional capacity in Telehouse North 2 next month. This is something we’re very excited about, as we move into the newest building on the Telehouse Docklands campus for the first time. We’ll be upgrading our Harbour Exchange / LD8 and City Lifeline fabrics very soon.
Civil works have now begun on both our grid feeds and our main fibre incomers, with visible roadworks now underway in the area surrounding our new facility. We’re very excited to see these critical services edge ever-closer to the site, ready for connection and use.
What’s next?
In the next week or so, the energisation process begins. This will last around a month, taking us from the current state to having full and final energy pathways deployed within the facility. This includes the work in getting our new feeds from the grid to our building.
