Secure I.T. Environments completes offshore upgrade at Jersey data centre

Secure I.T. Environments has completed a challenging data centre upgrade project on Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands. The project involved complex logistics with all equipment for the project including three air conditioning systems being shipped to the remote location 14 miles off the coast of Normandy, delivering the project on time and in budget.

Air conditioning refit

Focused on cooling, this project on two rooms of a live data centre. In one room two end of life Edenaire IPAC 70-2 AC units were replaced with GEA Multi-DENCO Energy Efficient DX Freecool air conditioning units. These were partnered with exterior hybrid heat rejection units.

In the second UPS room, two existing cooling units were replaced with a single GEA Multi-DENCO Energy Efficient DX indoor unit. To get the best efficiency from this unit, the installation was completed with a GEA Multi-DENCO down flow close control direct expansion air handling systems and a Denco ambient air-cooled condenser.

The revisions to the number of air conditioning units and types meant a number of changes to the pipe work runs through the data centre, bringing two circuits of DX pipework and two circuits of free cooling water pipework to meet the new air conditioning units. Upon completion of the upgrade SITE completed all commissioning, and testing of environmental monitoring systems, before refinishing the raised flooring in both rooms.

Weather warriors

Weather can impact any substantial data centre project, especially when groundworks are involved, but even the smallest projects can be hampered when the logistics rely on shipping to an island. For SITE a critical element of the planning of this project was working with the supply chain to ensure the availability of hardware on Jersey. The project timeline was designed to ensure delays to shipping and deliveries could be accommodated, without impeding the ability for data centre work to continue moving forward and meet deadlines.

Chris Wellfair, Projects Director at Secure I.T. Environments, added: “Projects can be complicated in many ways, and at SITE we’ve managed a number of offshore projects, as well as those in restrictive environments such as hospitals. Our team and suppliers worked hard to deliver this project on time and in budget, and a critical element of that success is a relentless approach to planning and a close relationship with clients.”