Location:
Easter Bush, University of Edinburgh
Client:
Sector:
The World Class Data Infrastructure (WCDI), Edinburgh International Data Facility, is a core component of the Data Driven Innovation (DDI) Programme that forms an integral part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Deal investment proposition.
The new building at Easter Bush is home to a new High Resiliency Computer Room and associated plant areas to house and support the computer equipment. It extends the existing Advanced Computer Facility (ACF) which houses computer rooms, associated plant rooms and office space. As with all data centre facility projects, the highly serviced building required close coordination between the design team to establish an efficient building and plant layout that performed well for the end user.
Engineering Excellence
Structurally, the steelwork framed building preferred to achieve the flexibility for the extensive plant and large span steelwork trusses were used to provide a column free computer room. The elevations were cladded with perforated profiled metal cladding which was supported on cladding rails. Sections of the external cladding and structure around the perimeter were designed to be demountable to allow plant access for maintenance and replacement of equipment which required detailed planning for the structure and cladding design.
Our drainage system was designed to accommodate the surface water run off from the large expansive roof and from the plant operational discharges, this required storage and treatment methods with environmental and sustainability considerations at the forefront of the design. The discharge was to a private burn, so the treatment methods required to be appropriate to ensure the watercourse and wildlife were not impacted.
