This analysis allows for the optimisation of design elements, such as UPS, to ensure inclusion only where necessary, leading to significant cost savings and a reduction in embodied carbon.
It enables the ‘industrialisation’ of data centre design and construction.This allows us to work with clients to standardise procurement, through a prearranged supply chain with stockholding, if necessary, of pre-agreed capital plant and equipment.
It enables speed of installation through on-site assembly of prefabricated and pre-assembled parts in a safe and controlled manner.And given the nature of data centres, they lend themselves particularly well to this approach, where standardisation of the end-user product is paramount.. DfMA brings precisely the reliability, predictability and speed to market that our data centre clients want and benefit from..Creating sustainable data centres.
The biggest environmental impact of data centres is in their use of power and water for cooling, but they are also heavy in terms of embedded carbon.Carbon is embedded in the structure of buildings as everyone knows, but in data centres significantly more so in the M&E equipment within them.
As we optimise the geometry and layout of the structure, plant and systems we can have a positive effect on the amount of embodied carbon in the building, structure and systems.. Our more sustainable approach to close coupling and integration increases efficiency in cooling and distribution losses and also lessens the carbon intensive materials used in these systems.. Our industrialisation and digital design approach allows us to quantify this carbon content during design, and minimise the content through optimisation and materials selection.
It means our clients can make arrangements for carbon offsetting prior to the data centre facility being handed over.. We continue to investigate and take opportunities to make use of the heat that is generated by the cooling of data centres.The critical chain ran through Integration Strategy (1.)
and Design Sprint (2.).The actual tasks for Integrating Strategy were very tricky to tie down.
This included understanding the design space which would bring together modular design coordination between process blocks and utilities, whole plant build sequence, process scale and duplication; and the evolution of the ‘platform’ that would meet the business needs in the future.The approach we took for this was to plan a time of iteration between process, engineering, systemisation, and business focused expertise, assessing the Last Responsible Moment for drawing this activity to a close.