Sudlows to Deliver Supercomputer Data Centre for STFC
Posted by: electime 22nd March 2023
Data Centre design and build specialist Sudlows has been awarded a £18m contract to deliver the critical Mechanical and Electrical services for a new state-of-the-art Data Centre facility. Sudlows were awarded the contract by specialist main contractor Russell WHBO following a successful competitive tender process.
The facility is due to house some of the UK’s most advanced supercomputer systems and is being constructed as part of a significant £210m investment into the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation.
The finished facility will support the Hartree Centre in continuing to deliver high performance computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence services, as well as paving the way to realise their ambitions for the deployment of the UK’s first exascale supercomputer alongside their already world leading research into quantum computing.
The high-density 33,000 sq ft facility has been meticulously designed, incorporating the wealth of experience of Sudlows’ specialist, multi award winning Data Centre Design Team, as well as that of the highly experienced teams at Daresbury Laboratory and the Hartree Centre, Russell WBHO, ARUP, and Arcadis.
By utilising the latest in liquid cooling technology, the facility can accommodate systems with a much higher heat flux than that which traditional air cooling would be limited to, and is able to do so with greater control over the operational semiconductor temperatures, allowing both high levels of efficiency, and very high performance to be realised.
Power to the facility will be provided via a new private HV network, incorporating highly resilient standby power systems, within final supplies to the critical IT systems protected by high efficiency redundant UPS systems.
To further ensure efficiency and performance can be optimised throughout the life of the facility, the state-of-the-art engineering systems have each been designed with a high degree of controllability to ensure that ongoing operation can continue to be optimised and improved by the highly qualified and experienced Client Operational Team, with support as required from Sudlows Facilities Management and Design Teams.
Once built, the facility will represent best in class in design, engineering, construction and operation, not only for specialist supercomputer facilities but for an increasing number of high-density liquid cooled facilities required to support the high-performance IT.
Zac Potts, Head of Sustainability and Innovation at Sudlows commented: “The Sudlows Team are proud to have been selected as the specialist partner in the delivery of the critical M&E for the prestigious STFC Super Computer Centre Project. The project aligns perfectly with Sudlows’ commitment to sustainability in the delivery of highly specialised critical facilities, and it is particularly exciting to see our expertise support the world class research STFC deliver in areas such as AI and quantum computing.”
