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Our innovative approach to data center design delivers exceptional results for global clients: 30-40% reduction in capital build cost per KW; 40% increase in IT yield/sqm.
Bryden Wood began working in the field of data center design in 1999, originally for Global Switch and through them for their tenants, Cable and Wireless, Ebone, Cap Gemini and Global Crossing; and later for laxix and LPN. We are currently working on data center design projects with several leading providers in the global, hyperscale data center market.
Experts in construction technology and DfMA, Bryden Wood has a history of designing specialist prefabricated building elements, particularly where there is a crossover between mechanical and electrical services, structure and high-quality architectural finishes.
This unique combination of abilities — designers experienced in the rigor of prefabricated, DfMA concepts and knowledgeable in data center design — was seized upon by Andy Ruhan, CEO of Global Switch. We were commissioned to review all aspects of the way data centers were built, including data center design, procurement and data center construction.
The resulting solution utilized a number of prefabricated products and methods of working, which create a kit-of-parts. This platform construction methodology allows Bryden Wood to produce a plan for either an existing building or a green field site. The plan uses production items where the cost and program for each element are certain and all elements have enhanced resilience due to prefabrication.
This approach is also extremely flexible as all the elements have the ability to be installed in phases. Extensions to the system are built and then connected with no downtime. This allows expansion needs to be protected without large capital expenditure.
Prefabrication has the added benefit of miniaturizing the installation required to service the technical space. This is because you can build in a smaller space on a bench in a factory than in traditional site conditions. This, with a patented pressurized plenum floor system, allows this system to increase the net area by over 10%.
The colocation, or retail data center, has traditionally been designed almost with a single focus; providing mission critical resilience and security, at all costs. While that focus may still be valid for some sectors of the industry, the emergence of the hyperscale data center to service the rapidly expanding internet giants has led to the need for a different approach to data center design and construction.
The hyperscalers, and the expansion generated by cloud computing, e-commerce and social media, have created demand for huge facilities designed to optimize the deployment of their servers as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The pressure to reduce $ per MW is a metric actively targeted in the design and development stage of these facilities. As requirements have evolved, so must the data center design approach.
Bryden Wood apply an integrated design approach to the problem, bringing together the best in engineering, architecture and digital design technologies to optimize outcomes for our clients. We produce a balanced data center design, which is grounded on solid engineering, but also delivers the best value.
We have worked closely with the biggest names in the hyperscale business in the past three years. We have an intimate understanding of what drives their business and how the data center is fundamental to their rapid expansion.
We have achieved exceptional results building data centers, not least:
We have done this by efficient design of both the white space and supporting technical equipment. Our focus on close coupling systems reduces distribution costs and avoids wasted space.
We have created master plans for hundreds of MWs of facilities around the world. We understand the importance of maximizing yield from a prospective site. Carefully designed structures, created to be in sync with the white space cooling and power distribution systems they support, enable us to drive down floor-to-floor heights. This maximizes the number of stories the site can deliver, which means maximum MW yield.
The Bryden Wood principle of Design to Value is particularly effective for the rapid growth of the hyperscale sector; as is our core approach (and market-leading experience) of creating standardized, kit-of-parts designs, and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA).
Kit-of-parts designs lend themselves in particular to digital design and configuration. We have developed configuration software for clients which has transformed front-end master planning, costing and design creation.
A master plan feasibility which once took several months can now be run in just a few hours, allowing scenario testing to find a best fit with the client’s development aspirations, and cutting time to market dramatically.
The Bryden Wood approach has led us to deploy standard products and processes in a more efficient way — maximizing lean design principles, questioning the efficiency of every aspect of the data center design and stripping out anything that is not essential. We have broken some molds in the process.
But working with our fully integrated team of technologists, analysts, engineers and architects means no guesswork or inefficient, unused space. We provide a truly specialist approach to data center design.
We are currently working on live projects in Ireland, UK, Spain and Italy, with feasibility studies either completed or underway in Helsinki, Frankfurt, Zurich, Warsaw, Bogota, Dubai and Dallas … and many more. We look forward to helping our clients build ever more efficiently: driving down cost, improving performance and increasing yields. As this market will certainly continue to grow, the benefits of accelerated certainty and increased efficiency for data center construction are clear — for our clients, and for the built environment as a whole.
