Scottish Power are a major UK energy provider and as part of the Iberdrola Group, the fifth largest energy provider in the world.
With headquarters in Glasgow, the company has various properties around the Uk with two major Data Centres located in Scotland. These two independent facilities manage, operate and communicate with the whole company network from generation to distribution and supply.
As part of a planned refrigeration replacement programme in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, ScottishPower engaged the services of Dovebrace Ltd to select and plan the replacement of the existing cooling systems within the two Data centres with additional expansions and resilience taken into account.
The project consisted of the removal of the existing R22 close control systems within the two buildings and the installation of 13No new systems with a combined cooling capacity of circa 800Kw.
The buildings were located on different types of sites and required different techniques including using cranes, heavy lift equipment and temporary cooling. Space planning was also a consideration as all equipment had to be selected to marshall through the existing data halls between operational servers and IT equipment.
The planning and implementation of the works was integral to the success of this project. The detailing and scheduling of taking existing cooling equipment off-line and installing new equipment whilst replacing the pipework, controls and electrical infrastructure in a 24/7 live data centre without affecting business continuity was critical.
The close interfacing of Dovebrace Ltd, the Client and our partners carrying out the works ensured this project was accomplished successfully.