Financial Toronto
Project Summary
Objectives:
Design and construction of a 100 cabinet enterprise data centre for a financial institution. The facility needed to meet the requirements of an Uptime Institute Tier III data centre and also comply with the requirements of a LEED Silver certified building. The facility would also be slowly filled over time and needed to operate efficiently even at low loads.
Challenges:
- Roof space was already at a premium for any additional mechanical equipment
- Exterior spaces were already utilized for rain water collection requirements of LEED Silver certification
- Enhanced security requirements were part of the design mandate
- Even during maintenance of one of the power paths, the client wanted the flexibility to keep both A&B power supplies on their equipment active
Solutions:
- Leveraged highly efficient mechanical pumped refrigerant solution
- Careful planning and execution related to construction inside an existing LEED Silver certified environment
- Detailed equipment selection criteria exercise results in specific UPS, transformer and cooling gear all of which operate at high efficiency ratings even when lightly loaded
- Additional physical security elements and integrated security technology required to meet financial institution requirements
Financial
Toronto
Project Location:
Toronto, Ontario
Sector:
Financial
Certifications:
LEED Silver Certified Building
Outcomes:
The CRSC team performed a detailed site audit and growth modeling to ensure the design would meet the needs today and in the future. The existing building lent itself well to a design with a raised floor. The raised floor, at 36″ in height, paired with a hot aisle containment system, would allow for optimum air flow and efficient use of mechanical energy. A fully redundant mechanical plant was installed in a secondary area which did not conflict with any of the existing LEED characteristics of the facility.
To maintain A&B power supplies energized during maintenance windows, static switches were included in the design effectively increasing the reliability of the electrical distribution both during planned maintenance and also automatically during any power related incidents.
Physical security elements included steel mesh built inside the perimeter, including under floor areas, biometric security access with integrated CCTV and access control. An intelligent building management system (BMS) dedicated to the data center space, monitored all mission critical aspects, including detailed power usage levels at the branch circuit (IT equipment) level.