Category Archives: Kao Data

Leading design and build contractor in the data centre industry, JCA, is proud to announce that, working with Kao Data, we have been shortlisted in the ‘Design Team of the Year’ category at the global DCD Awards 2018.

The category recognises the achievements of the architects, engineers and contractors that design and build data centres. Tom Absalom, Managing Director at JCA, said: “We are delighted to be shortlisted with Kao Data in this prestigious category. Kao Data London One data centre is a showcase for our full design and construction capability, as well as demonstrating our innovative and collaborative approach to critical infrastructure projects, working closely with both client and supply chain partners to achieve the highest levels of operational and sustainable delivery.”

Kao Data and JCA undertook a truly collaborative, open approach to enable the free-flowing of ideas, high levels of project dynamism and problem solving to achieve Kao Data’s objectives of delivering on time and on budget.

For Kao Data, the driving force for the project was to create a product that was market leading in terms of quality, efficiency and innovation and to be able to offer state-of-the-art carrier neutral data centre space at a strategic location just outside London and in doing so form one of the largest data centre campuses in the UK.

Jan Daan Luycks, CEO of Kao Data, said: “The collective experience of Kao Data’s senior management team allied with JCA’s building engineering expertise has delivered a facility of the highest standard in the areas of efficiency, resilience, operational sustainability and connectivity. The design and construction of the data centre follows the innovative principles of the Open Compute Project and as such is one of the first carrier neutral wholesale data centres to do so.”

JCA’s focus on delivering the highest levels of sustainability has also resulted in Kao Data London One achieving BREEAM Excellent Certification.

The overarching principle of collaborative engagement and an engineering led approach to the design and construction has enabled Kao Data to achieve its objective and the business now operates one of the most advanced data centres anywhere in the world.

All entries have been reviewed by an independent panel of industry experts and the awards will be presented at a gala dinner on Thursday 6th December in London.

To find out more about DCD Awards 2018, visit https://www.dcdawards.global/ 

To find out more about JCA’s services, visit https://jca.co.uk/what-we-do/ 

Leading design and build contractor in the data centre arena, JCA, is delighted to announce it has been shortlisted for the 2018 DCS Awards in the category, New Design/Build Data Centre Project of the Year.

The DCS awards are designed to reward the product designers, manufacturers, suppliers and providers operating in data centre industry. The Awards recognise the achievements of the vendors and their business partners alike and this year encompass a wider range of both facilities and information technology categories, which acknowledge all of the main areas of this market in Europe.

JCA’s nomination relates to its design and build of Kao Data London One, on behalf of client Kao Data, which was delivered on time at the end of 2017. The approach taken was to be unique to the data centre industry for such a major development.

JCA is primarily an engineering services and data centre specialist that would not traditionally undertake the construction of a new build shell and core data centre, as this would generally be undertaken by a recognised large scale construction company. By allowing the project to be engineering-led, however, the client benefitted from a shell and core design and construction that was in harmony with the overall purpose of the facility and complementary to the mechanical, electrical and ancillary infrastructure services.

In addition, Kao and JCA undertook a truly collaborative, open approach to enable the free-flowing of ideas, high levels of project dynamism and problem solving to achieve Kao Data’s objectives of delivering on time and on budget. Two elements in projects of this nature that are often targeted but very rarely achieved.

The objective for Kao Data was to become the first entrant into the London UK wholesale data centre market for many years. The driving force for the project was to create a product that was market leading in terms of quality, efficiency and innovation. To be able to offer state-of-the-art carrier neutral data centre space at a strategic location just outside London and in doing so form one of the largest data centre campuses in the UK. Kao Data London One is located on the 36-acre Kao Park development in the Harlow Enterprise Zone on the London-Stansted-Cambridge technology corridor.

Each data centre in the £200 million Kao Data Campus is split into four halls, totalling circa 150,000 square feet of net technical space. In addition, each technology suite will be capable of supporting a 2200kW IT load, representing a total technical load of 8.8MW per data centre.

JCA has designed Kao Data London One to deliver market leading efficiency, with the innovative use of technical infrastructure and building engineering expertise to provide Kao Data with a product that provides the highest standard of efficiency, resilience, operational sustainability and connectivity. JCA’s focus on delivering the highest levels of sustainability has also resulted in Kao Data London One achieving BREEAM Excellent Design Certification.

Importantly, the design and construction of the data centre follows the innovative principles of the Open Compute Project and as such is one of the first carrier neutral wholesale data centres to do so.

The Kao Data Campus is powered by a specifically installed UK Power Networks 33kV/11kV 43.5MVA substation within the campus security demise. The 33kV utility power supplies are diverse with N+1 33/11kV transformers in the UKPN adopted substation located within the security demise of the campus. The objective of the concurrently maintainable design is to offer 100% availability with N+1 11kV power generation specific to each data centre and each generator comes complete with 48hour fuel storage.

Rack densities up to 20kW and beyond can be accommodated within the data hall which is designed around hot aisle / rack exhaust air stream segregation with flooded style supply air distribution. Kao Data London One offers the latest incarnation of Indirect Evaporative Cooling systems that are so efficient that there is no requirement for any form of mechanical cooling, which assists towards total facility PUE of 1.20 even at part load.

The campus is compliant with the ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9 (TC9.9) Thermal Guidelines (2011 and 2015) including the commonly overlooked International Society for Automation Environmental Conditions for Process Measurement & Control Systems: Airborne Contaminants (ISA 71.04 (2013)). Kao Data views the monitoring of airborne gaseous contaminants within the technology suite as a pre-requisite for data centre operations. All major volume server OEMs stipulate the minimum environmental operating conditions required to comply with their warranties. By strictly adhering to these requirements Kao Data is able to evidence to its customers that neither the reliability of the technology assets nor the warranties will ever be put at risk and the environment is optimised for compute performance. Having consulted with subject matter experts, we believe this approach is a first for a wholesale data centre operator.

Whilst there were multiple challenges that had to be overcome throughout the design and construction phases of the project, the overarching principle of collaborative engagement and an engineering led approach to the design and construction has enabled Kao Data to achieve its objective and the business now operates one the most advanced data centres anywhere in the world.

Voting for the DCS Awards is now open until 11th May. Please click HERE to cast your vote. 

JCA thanks you for your support!

Innovations in data centre design, energy-efficiency and sustainability are being showcased at Data Centre World 2018 by engineering services led principal contractor, JCA, which has just delivered one of the UK’s most advanced data centres for its client, Kao Data.

Offering industry-leading flexible configuration and environmental performance credentials, JCA’s design and construction of Kao Data London One followed the innovative principles of the Open Compute Project, one of the first carrier neutral wholesale data centres to do so.

Officially opened last month, Kao Data London One is the first of four planned data centres that will comprise the Kao Data Centre Campus on the 36-acre Kao Park development, located in Harlow on the London-Stansted-Cambridge technology corridor.

Each building in the £200 million campus will be split into four halls, totalling around 150,000 square feet of net technical space.  In addition, each technology suite will be capable of supporting a 2200KW IT load, representing a total technical load of 8.8MW per data centre. Rack densities up to 20kW and beyond can be accommodated within the data hall, which is designed around the principle of hot aisle / rack exhaust air stream segregation with flooded style supply air distribution.

Kao Data London One offers the latest incarnation of Indirect Evaporative Cooling systems. These are so efficient that there is no requirement for any form of mechanical cooling, which assists towards total facility PUE of 1.20 even at part load.

JCA designed Kao Data London One to deliver market leading efficiency from the innovative use of technical infrastructure and building engineering expertise, to provide Kao Data with a campus that has the highest standard of data resilience, operational sustainability and connectivity for national and international customers, as well as environmental performance. As a result, Kao Data London One achieved BREEAM Excellent Design Certification.

Tom Absalom, Managing Director, JCA, said:

“We are delighted with Kao Data London One, which JCA delivered to Kao Data on time and within budget at the end of 2017. This industry leading data centre is a showcase for our full design and construction capability, as well as demonstrating our innovative and collaborative approach to critical infrastructure projects, working closely with both client and supply chain partners to achieve the highest levels of operational and sustainable delivery.”

Paul Finch, Chief Operating Officer at Kao Data, commented:

“I’m delighted that the first phase of the Kao Data Campus has been brought to market according to schedule with all objectives met and importantly, on budget. From the outset of the project we went back to basics with an acute focus on reliability and availability.  We have shown these attributes can be complementary to lower capital and operations expenditure, energy-efficiency and sustainability.

“From a procurement perspective, Kao adopted a collaborative and shared risk approach to delivery, which in light of recent high-profile failures in the construction sector, has strongly positioned both us and our partners well for the future phases of the development.  This is due in no small part to the experience of the management team and the decision to partner with an engineering-led main contractor, JCA Engineering and key equipment suppliers.”

The Kao Data Campus is powered by a specifically installed UK Power Networks 33kV/11kV 43.5MVA substation within the campus security demise. The 33kV utility power supplies are diverse with N+1 33/11kV transformers in the UKPN adopted substation located within the security demise of the campus. The objective of the concurrently maintainable design is to offer 100% availability with N+1 11kV power generation specific to each data centre and each generator comes complete with 48hour fuel storage.