There has been a rapid acceleration in the need to modernise existing data centres across the globe in order to keep pace with the ever-evolving technology, the drive for AI capability and increased requirements for energy efficiency and sustainability targets. As existing equipment and systems reach end of life, this is an opportunity for owners to vastly improve their existing facilities.

The goal is simple: improve the overall efficiency of the existing facility (capacity, energy consumption, operational costs etc) to support new and emerging technologies while also keeping capex spend to a minimum. However, the challenge in delivering this goal is far less simple and complex to achieve and requires significant project planning and design from owners. The main challenge of data centre retrofit/modernisation projects has always been maintaining critical infrastructure service while carrying out the works and avoiding any downtime for customers.

Every facility is different in terms of scale, location, complexity etc and there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to modernising a data centre, however we would always recommend that owners prioritise forming a thoroughly detailed medium to short term facility masterplan along with their stakeholders. In my view, this should also include employing an integrated design team who specialise in designing, costing and programming these types of works. This will help avoid carrying out upgrade works in an ad-hoc and inefficient manner.

This masterplan will include a review of the entire facility to fully understand the data before analysing options for improvement which typically includes for example;

• upgrading old installations, which is the most effective way to increase capacity without increasing footprint.
• reviewing current rack densities to seek improvements; this is a key consideration and will also include a review of the existing floor loadings, cooling systems etc to ensure the space can facilitate modern rack requirements in terms of point loads and additional cooling requirements.
• review of space planning to maximise potential lettable space.
• switching to renewable energy sources.

These projects will be commonplace in the industry over the next decade and while there are many challenges to achieving this modernisation, the benefits to having a future proof, efficient facility are significant.