Rider Levett Bucknall has extensive experience cost
managing data centre design to ensure the desired levels
of continuity of service, appropriate redundancy, and that
Tier and Power Utilisation Effectiveness (PUE) levels are
achieved with the provision of enhanced best in class
facilities.
Implementation programs include the refurbishment of
existing facilities, co-location in leased facilities and the
creation of new permanent facilities.
Rider Levett Bucknall’s previous experience and
understanding of the supporting infrastructure required
for the operation of a data centre facility means the firm
is well equipped to provide detailed assessment of the
financial aspects of data centres.
This provides certainty in the outcome for project
sketch stage design through to completion, including
the consideration of ecologically sustainable design
and whole-life related issues relating to the project’s
successful delivery.
Rider Levett Bucknall works closely with its clients
to prepare comparative feasibility cost analysis for
strategic options and establish a successful procurement
methodology to optimise delivery time and provide value
for money in the construction process. This knowledge
delivers insights and strategies to assist clients to
enhance value and mitigate risk.
WHY rIDer LeVett BUCKnaLL?
Rider Levett Bucknall is an established, recognised and
respected property, construction and facilities advisory practice. We are leaders in the provision of world-class cost consultancy and advisory services with a long history in the market making us unique.
We have completed many advanced projects of great complexity in the last decade and have successfully demonstrated the application of sophisticated modern methods to their delivery and management.
As independent cost consultants with a wealth of experience and offices in key international locations to enhance capacity, insight and the necessary resources, we are well qualified to deliver industry-leading data centre projects.
speCIaLIst expertIse
Rider Levett Bucknall has provided independent Cost Consultancy and Advisory services to many significant commercial and data centre facilities. Our Cost Consultancy capabilities, understanding of data centre building requirements and an appreciation of the industry standards is essential in assisting clients to achieve successful outcomes for the use of a building.
Rider Levett Bucknall recognises the importance of engineering services to data centre facilities, which often comprise more than 50 per cent of the construction cost. Our engineering services team utilise the latest cost data and innovations to deliver independent advice in the evaluation of engineering services.
sUstaInaBILItY
Rider Levett Bucknall’s advice is focused on the cost, quality and sustainability ratings for facilities. Data centres present different criteria to commercial developments in achieving these ratings. Our philosophy is to combine global best practice with local know-how to achieve successful ESD outcomes while accommodating complex user requirements.
Innovation in data centre design is helping to dramatically reduce energy use and business costs with recent
improvements providing benefits to the owners of such facilities. Technological advancements (such as fresh air cooling) are leading to efficiency gains, which is advantageous for both environmental and financial reasons.
teamWorK
Data centres are complex projects and for successful outcomes it is essential stakeholders, designers and contractors work together. Rider Levett Bucknall’s teams of professionals have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to work within a team framework and offer independent advice to the client that adds value and mitigates risk, assisting the client in the decision making process.
For projects with scale and complexity the firm implements an internal peer review process to ensure project excellence. Reviews of all cost management output are conducted by a second senior director with a high level focus on overall strategic goals.
This process allows sharp attention to detail without losing sight of overall project objectives.
4
to complete development works within the approved timeframe and within budget
Rider Levett Bucknall’s dedication to the highest level of professional excellence is evident in every project phase and in the training and development of its professionals. The firm’s ability to provide prompt, accurate and technically sound cost advice has resulted in its reputation for playing an integral role in the successful completion of projects with tight time and budgetary constraints.
minimal interruption to the
facility during construction Rider Levett Bucknall’s expertise is enhanced by a strong understanding of operational issues gained through extensive experience with data centre projects. In conjunction with the project team, risks are identified and the scope and costs related to the risks established and monitored during the project.
The firm’s knowledge translates to more efficient transitions for the staging of new facilities. Unique insights and strategies to minimise construction and time inefficiencies, ensuring clients are not compromised throughout the project duration.
needs of multiple user
groups and stakeholders Honed through substantial track records with data centre projects, Rider Levett Bucknall’s project team members demonstrate the highest level of interpersonal and problem-solving skills required to address the needs of stakeholders.
These abilities and experience from previous data centre projects locally and globally is essential for effective coordination of project consultants and minimising the impact of change on project time and cost.
Building services comprise a significant per cent of total construction costs
Rider Levett Bucknall combines cost management and engineering services expertise to correctly assess and provide accurate evaluations of mechanical, electrical, communications, security, hydraulic, fire and lift services. The firm ensures the same rigour in cost management is applied to this significant component of project cost. These insights are particularly valuable at the design planning stages of project budgeting to support the decision making process during design when documentation is limited and during implementation. We have extensive experience in value management of the cost of the engineering services options to enable optimal design solutions and budget outcomes.
project complexity Rider Levett Bucknall has extensive experience with data centre cost drivers such as Tier ratings, N+1 or 2 N, redundancy levels, PUE levels and other design configurations, the use of static and generator or DRUPS standby power systems, Bus or PDU power distribution systems, in rack cooling and CRAC mechanical systems, air cooling and water cooling options, rack layout efficiency, raised floor and ducted air systems, gas suppression, VESDA detection and data hall shielding.
As data centres configurations can vary from small purpose built to large facilities designed for hosting solutions, Rider Levett Bucknall can draw on world wide experience in all types of data centres and have the quality assurance processes to ensure that the services are to the highest standard. Financial aspects such as cash flow, life cycle costing, energy costs and maintenance are included in our suite of services to provide a complete independent cost management service to developers and operators.
ecologically sustainable
design initiatives Rider Levett Bucknall have specialist staff who have achieved certification and are experienced in data centre projects and understand the specialist issues and requirements that are required to identify cost effective solutions that are required to achieve sustainability ratings.
achievement of long-term
efficiencies To ensure the team effectively contributes to client goals and long-term performance improvements, an understanding of facilities beyond the construction phase is required. With capabilities to examine long-term costs for property assets with expected benefits, Rider Levett Bucknall Advisory consultants advise on strategies and methods to optimise the whole-life value of property assets.
CrItICaL IssUes
Rider Levett Bucknall has identified seven key issues that must be addressed to ensure successful completion of data centre projects to maximise the value delivered to clients.
Rider Levett Bucknall was appointed by Equinix for the multiple phases in Equinix’s expansion programe to provide modern data centre storage facilities in both Sydney and Melbourne. Our involvement has benefited the Equinix solutions via our firm’s specialist understanding of this highly technical market sector. The Sydney project scope includes cost managing the 18,000m2 facility while fast tracking the construction approvals and delivery activities. Time being of the essence, the construction program has a target completion of less than 12 months including independent commissioning.
The project, which comprises the refurbishment of the Harry Seidler warehouse structure, delivered the first stage of a three-stage program. The first three-stage included the base building works and fit-out for the two data halls and provided 1,000 cabinet equivalents. The subsequent stages will increase capacity to a total of 3,000 cabinet equivalents.
The proposed refurbishment works include alterations and additions to the existing building to construct new technical space, new roof structure, new facade fabric finishes, new mezzanine plant room space and landscaping works. The works include a high level of new engineering services installations (approximately 60 per cent of the total costs) to meet the demands of the new data centre.
The Melbourne project comprises a 9,500m2 purpose built Tier 3 Data Centre Silver Star LEED rated facility. The project is designed for 1,500 data cabinets with on grade construction on a brown field site and incorporates indirect air side economy DX AHU air conditioning system.
Client: Equinix
Architect: Cox Richardson (MLI); Drew Dickson Architects (SY3) Engineer: Aurecon
Services provided: Cost Consultancy, Estimating, Value
Engineering, Tendering, Post Contract Administration, Financial Reporting and Tax Depreciation
Equinix SY3 Data Centre, Sydney
Equinix MLI Data Centre, Melbourne
6
Australia
Energex Primary Data Centre,
Victoria Park
Queensland
Expansion of the Energex Data Centre located at the Victoria Park Facility in Bowen Bridge Road Brisbane. Once completed, the 1,300m2 centre will house existing communications equipment from both the Charlotte Street and Victoria Park facilities. In addition to the data centre works, upgrading and / or replacement of existing services and finishes within the five levels of the existing Victoria Park building will be undertaken on a staged basis to ensure that operations within the building continue without interruption.
Client: Ranbury Architect: PDT
Services provided: Cost Consultancy Completion: 2013
Hewlett Packard Data Centre
and Head Office
Melbourne
A new 500m2 data centre and a 10,000 m2 head office over four levels with two basement levels of car parking totaling 194 car spaces and 145 on grade spaces. Client: Hewlett Packard
Architect: Lend Lease
Services provided: Cost Consultancy, Client Representative for the base building and integrated fitout
Data Centre
Melbourne
Commenced in 2010, the project involves the construction of a new 8,000m2facility building housing a 2,000m2 Tier 3 Data Hall being constructed in two stages. The project also includes the provision of a 2,500 m2 Energy Centre providing 10MVa power supply upgrade to the estate.
Client: Telco (confidential) Architect: Confidential
Services provided: Full Cost Planning services across all engineering services focusing on electrical services and HV generators. On-going roles include providing Cost Consultancy services to assist the client administering the managing contractor, GMP Final Accounts and Value Management.
Data Centre
Melbourne
The project encompasses the conversion of a defence data centre into a Hewlett Packard data centre.
The project was undertaken in four stages with stages two, three and four undertaken once stage one was completed and operational. The data centre is 3,000m2 with a total gross floor area of 6,000m2 . Most of the construction works were undertaken in a live data centre environment.
Client: Hewlett Packard Architect: Peddle Thorp
Highbrook Business Park is a world-class development estate combining 107 hectares of landscaped commercial area with 40 hectares of recreational parklands in Auckland’s East Tamaki. The Park is jointly owned and developed by NZX-listed Goodman Property Trust, ASX-listed Goodman Group and the Fisher family.
Working in collaboration with New Zealand developer Highbrook Development Limited, through a long term leasing and operating commitment, IBM data centre is located at the Highbrook Business Park in East Tamaki. The 4,600m2 facility, built to IBM global specifications, includes a 1,600m2 data centre.
IBM’s new facility will be the only commercially available data centre of its calibre in New Zealand. The data centre will be cloud computing enabled, highly resilient and have the environmental protection advantages of IBM’s industry-leading data centre design characterised by energy efficiency, green technologies, scalability and the latest power and cooling technologies. For instance, the data centre will include a cooling system to leverage outside air in cooler months, reducing the need for chillers.
Client: IBM and Highbrook Development Limited Architect: JWA
Engineer: URS New Zealand Services provided: Cost Consultancy
IBM Reliability Level 3+ Data Centre, Auckland
8
China
China Merchants Bank Finance
and Data Centre
Shenzhen
A purpose-built facility with a total construction floor area of approximately 50,000m2, with the data centre occupying approximately 15,000m2 and the remaining area configured as a research and development centre. Client: China Merchants Bank
Services provided: Cost Consultancy Completion: 2006
Data Centre in Huawei Beijing
Environmental Technology Park
Beijing
A purpose-built facility that includes ten 4-storey buildings with a total
construction floor area of approximately 270,000m2 located on a 210,000m2 site in the Beijing Environmental Technology Park.
The facility is the second headquarter of Huawei in China, now serving as a centralised data storage and telecommunications hub of all research and development facilities for the company.
Client: Huawei Technology Co, Ltd Architect: MulvannyG2 Architecture
MEP Engineer: Shanghai WSP Consulting Ltd. Services provided: Cost Consultancy
Completion: 2010
Huawei Data Centre
Shenzhen
The 14,600m2 Shenzhen Huawei data centre development includes one fully-fitted out data centre of 2,220m2 on one floor and another data centre of the same size on the second floor.
Client: Huawei Technology Co, Ltd Services provided: Cost Consultancy Completion: 2004
Tencent Data Centre
Tianjin
A large-scale data centre in the Tianjin Binhai New Area that will span approximately 90,000m2 of floor space with a capacity to hold up to two million servers.
Client: Tencent Digital (Tianjin) Co, Ltd Services provided: Cost Consultancy Completion: 2013
Tencent Data Centre
Shanghai
A large-scale data centre in Shanghai Qingpu Industrial Park comprising approximately 73,000m2 of floor space spanning across 4 freestanding blocks. The purpose-built facility is earmarked as Tencent’s cloud computing centre as well as the future base for the company’s e-commerce business.
Client: Tencent Science & Technology (Shanghai) Co, Ltd Services provided: Cost Consultancy
Takanini Data Centre, Auckland
New Zealand
The NZ$60 million enterprise class data centre will be one of New Zealand’s largest and most sophisticated, housing up to 1,200 racks. The facility will be of modular POD construction with four 100 rack data halls in each POD and a strong focus on sustainability and energy efficiency.
The facility is located on a Tier 3 site providing a very high level of resiliency and will be built to TIA standards. TIA standards are a global benchmark and to use the term ‘Tier 3’ the data centre must be independently certified.
The modular construction approach speeds up deployment time, saves energy, and allows for ongoing deployment of new technology. It also provides higher levels of resilience to the entire system.
Client: Gemini Auckland Corporate Trustee Limited Architect: AECOM
Engineer: AECOM
Services provided: Cost Consultancy Completion: 2014
10
Hong Kong
Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate
Hong Kong
Next Generation Data Centre is the centrepiece of HKEx Orion Technology Initiatives, a comprehensive HK$3 billion program designed to enhance HKEx’s technological infrastructure. The data centre is a 5-storey facility with a total floor area of about 31,400m2. It consolidates the primary data centres for all of HKEx’s markets and clearing house systems under one roof.
Client: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited MEP Engineer: HKT
Services provided: Cost Consultancy Completion: 2013
Singapore
Awan Data Centre A&A
Singapore
The project involved the fitting-out of a 200,000 square foot data centre that provides a Tier-4 DC facility and delivers comprehensive enterprise-class cloud based infrastructure and solutions.
Client: Awan Data Centre Pte
C&S Engineer: CGM Engineering Consultants M&E Engineer: AUP Consultants
Services provided: Cost Consultancy Completion: 2013
GIC Data Centre and Backup Office
Singapore
The project involved fitting-out of the data centre including all mechanical and electrical services. The two level data centre was retrofitted for the need to provide an alternate disaster recovery site for the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Private Limited (GIC), who manages Singapore’s foreign reserves.
Client: Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Pte Ltd Services provided: Cost Consultancy
Completion: 1999
JP Morgan Chase (formerly the
Chase Manhattan Bank)
Singapore
The project involves fitting-out of the office premises comprising a data centre of the JP Morgan Chase Bank, formerly known as The Chase Manhattan Bank. The bank is currently the hub for J.P. Morgan’s South East Asian operations and Asia Pacific head office for a number of business lines and corporate support functions.
Client: JP Morgan Chase Bank M&E Engineer: J Roger Preston Services provided: Cost Consultancy
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and its managing organisation, the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) have moved forward on the world-class, collaborative endeavour of a supercomputing center dedicated to advancing scientists’ understanding of climate, weather and other earth and atmospheric processes. The 150,000 square foot, Cheyenne-based facility, was developed in partnership with the University of Wyoming, the state of Wyoming, Cheyenne LEADS, the Wyoming Business Council, and Cheyenne Light, Fuel and Power (CLF&P). Located in the North Range Business Park, NWSC contains some of the world’s
NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC), Cheyenne, Wyoming
USA
most powerful supercomputers dedicated to improving scientific understanding of climate change, severe weather, air quality, and other vital atmospheric and geosciences topics. The centre also houses a premier data storage and archival facility that holds irreplaceable climate records and other information.
Client: H+L Architecture
Architect: H+L Architecture / California Data Center Design Group Services provided: Cost Consultancy and Project Scheduling Completion: 2011
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