Secure I.T. Environments upgrades Isle of Wight Council fire suppression

Secure I.T. Environments has completed thef fire suppression upgrade project for the Isle of Wight (IoW) Council main data centre and comms room at Country Hall in Newport. SITE was also awarded a four year maintenance contract for the new suppression system.

The project for the council’s 221m3 data centre involved the design, decommissioning of existing fire suppression and installation of the new system. Conducted over a two week period in the live data centre, fully replaced the gas suppression system including control panels, cylinders and pipe work, smoke detection and audible alarms, VESDA early warning system and remote monitoring.

Minimising environmental impact

As part of maintaining the IoW Council’s commitment to minimising its impact on the environment, the SITE design used the FK-5-1-12 clean agent solution, which is stored as a liquid under pressure, and when released vaporises into the data centre quelling a fire and crucially leaves no residue. This solution is classified as having a zero ozone depletion and a global warming potential of less than one.

David Watts, Principal Officer Corporate Property Maintenance and Project Lead, said: “SITE secured the opportunity following a competitive tender process in which they demonstrated best value for the Council and conveyed confidence they could deliver the most appropriate design and installation in our live data centre environment and they did not disappoint, completing the project on programme.”

Chris Wellfair, Projects Director at Secure I.T. Environments, added: “Fire suppression systems can often be overlooked as a critical upgrade area in the data centre. But when they need to do their job, you want certainty they will rapidly extinguish a fire and alert staff. Like all areas of data centre operations regular maintenance, testing and planning for the end of life of systems is important.”