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Concert works with Ark Data Centres to bring innovative North London data centre to practical completion

News September 20, 2021

Concert is pleased to announce that the Meridian Park data centre, located in North London, reached practical completion just last month.  Concert was appointed by Ark Data Centres to the roles of Cost Manager and Principal Designer on this exciting development which ensured sustainability was a key focus in the transformation of this brownfield site.

This innovative North London site benefits from electrical power generated from Edmonton EcoPark, which turns waste into low carbon energy.

Work began in 2019 and the site was developed over 4 phases, of which Concert was involved throughout. The finished scheme delivered a total of 16MW of white space over 7nr Data Halls, cooled by indirect evaporative cooling units housed on external plant gantries.

The site was previously a distribution centre which required extensive adaptations including a new external envelope and the construction external plant gantries.  The ground floor slab was also replaced to improve loading capacity and a new mezzanine floor was constructed, improving space utilisation and transforming the space into a cutting-edge tier 3 data centre facility.

As is common with brownfield sites, some further localised remediation was necessary, which was managed effectively to minimise impact to the delivery programme.

The project employed the use of the NEC3 form of contract, placing the contracts on a Design & Build basis with the addition of a formal gain-share mechanism to promote collaboration and create measurable benefit from improved performance by all parties involved.

Commenting on the success of the project, Concert Director Daniel Wright said:

‘We have worked successfully on several projects for Ark Data Centres for over a decade now and I am always impressed with their commitment to social responsibility and their pioneering approach to sustainable development.’

The principal team on the project was:

Consultants:

  • Architect – Hale Architecture Ltd
  • Mechanical, Electrical and Commissioning Engineer – Waterman Group
  • Planning Consultant – Savills
  • Open Controls Solutions – BMS Design
  • Control Risks – Security Design

Contractors:

  • Mechanical & Electrical Installation – Gratte Brothers Ltd
  • Construction Works – Sweet Construct Ltd
  • IT Cabling Fit-out – Data Techniques Ltd
  • Electronic Security Installation – Frontline Security Solution Ltd
  • Network Design & Installation – Trust System
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