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Less than a month after construction started, the final plastering has been completed and the decoration has started throughout.  Elsewhere Openreach have been in to terminate the 10-pair copper which will be used for phone lines, DSL, and the redundant access services.  The access-control controller boxes are being configured, and finally the 2nd fix electrics in the office are now going in.

This week promises to be a milestone in the project – not only will Friday be the one-month-marker, but the raised floor is due on site.  Before the end of the Bank Holiday we hope to have the raised floor in place where racks 1 and 2 will go, so Openreach and Telewest can come in and terminate the fibre from next week.

Final plastering complete

Decoration well under way

Office second fix electrics

Openreach on site

Sorry for the update delay!  Been a busy week on site but not much photo worthy…

We’ve had the first fix electrics installed in the office, and the second fix electrics installed in the loading bay and entrance hall.  The ceilings and office partition walls have been skim plastered rather than filled (this is what’s taken most of the week to organise), the steel fibre trunking is complete, and we’ve installed the Paxton Access Control units and the generator automatic transfer switch…

…and finally BT have made live the first of the copper circuits entering the unit.  We’ll use this for DSL for management access.

Loading bay construction ongoing

Generator transfer switch arrives on site

Access control system installed

Computer room ceiling plastering underway

Steel fibre ducting under raised floor complete

2nd fix electrics ongoing, sockets and light switches installed

While most people have been eating chocolate eggs, our team have been busy over the Easter break pressing on with construction in order to meet our June deadline.  Thanks go out to all involved over the Bank Holiday!

We’ve now removed all the original wiring from the unit, and temporay lights + sockets have been installed, all the computer room and office ceilings have been borded ready for finishing, the entrance hall has been boarded, and construction of the loading bay has begun.

We also got our first real look above the computer room ceiling.  This is where the air conditioning condenser units will go, recycling and cooling the air in the roof void rather than air from outside.  Not only will this enable us to use less power for cooling, but will help create a constant environment in the whole building, recycling the hot air removed from the computer room.

Temporary lights and sockets

Above the data centre

Office walls nearly complete

Into the entrance hall

Watch out for further updates during the week as work progresses!

...oh there it is.

Got a toy delivered to site... a brand new Cisco 3825 for the end of the fibre. It's gone into storage for "testing" or is that "playing"... definately "testing" :-)

Electrical works have also started with the lighting circuits and supplies to the generator.

This week’s started off well, with internal works flying ahead.  All the office stud work is up now, and 50% of the computer room ceiling beams have been installed.  We’re due deliveries of plasterboard and the internal electrics (lights etc…) on Wednesday, so expect to see massive transformation by the end of the week!

Internal works ongoing

Office stud work now complete

By the end of the week we expect the office to be boarded out, plus the first fix electricals installed, parts of the access control are scheduled to be installed this week too… watch this space!

Last week finished off with Skanska back on site to pull the fibre trunking into the building.  Connecting via BT’s core network all the way to ntl:Telwest (Virgin) in Attercliffe, Sheffield – the fibre will be the primary internet link for the Sheffield Data Centre.

Manholes lifted again

Pulling the fibre in

Fibre trunking coil

Yesterday we took collection of a lot of deliveries on site, and construction started on the office area, with stud walls and the first beams going up before the end of the day…

Deliveries to site

Wood... lots of wood

Office walls going up

When we first took over the unit we had to demolish an existing office suite to make the data hall bigger, we also had visits from BT, ntl:Telewest, Sheffield City Council and several prospective clients.

Finally last week we had Skanska visit site and start to pull through blue rope via all the BT ducts in the area for our new shiny fibre cable.

Before demolition

After demolition

Skanska on site

BT Manhole Open

Another BT manhole open

Opening manholes in the car park, thankfully BT have already installed ducts and cable chambers!! 

We’ll post some more pics, including the start of construction soon…

High Availability Hosting Limited are proud to announce the construction of a 25 rack hosting facility in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.  The Sheffield Data Centre will go live on Wednesday 10th June 2009 for customers wishing to colocate a server, a full rack, or outsource an existing IT suite to us.

Located in Holbrook, South East Sheffield (S20), we’re ideally located for easy access from the M1, A57 and Sheffield City Centre.  The Data Centre will have 1050U of usable rack space, and be able to host a mixture 900 physical and virtual servers at full capacity.

Keep an eye on the blog for updates as we begin the two month fitting out period, we’ll update the blog regurally with new information and pictures as we progress.  Your questions and comments are always welcome, simply get in touch!!

Stuart Stones, Rory Delahoyde – Company Directors
High Availability Hosting Limited / The Sheffield Data Centre
www.hahosting.com
www.thevirtualcloud.com
www.sheffielddatacentre.com
enquiries@sheffielddatacentre.com