Wallace Whittle are proud to be involved in the Dagenham Green project for Dagenham Dock Limited/Peabody, which has recently received approval for an outline planning permission for a mixed use development of up to 3502 new homes, of which a minimum of 47% will be affordable.

Wallace Whittle have provided Energy, Utilities, MEP and Vertical Transportation services for both the masterplan and the first phase of the development which Dagenham Dock Limited/Peabody are looking to bring forward in the coming months.

We are delighted to be working on this exciting project with a vision to create a new sustainable neighbourhood with placemaking and the local community at the heart of the design development.

The mixed-use development will also provide:

• Over 10 acres of public realm and landscaping, including a central 5-acre urban park and 15,000 sqm of playspace
• New local shops and restaurants
• 5 acres of land for a new Secondary School
• A Heritage Trail that will signpost visitors to different aspects of the area’s history including the 1968 Sewing Machinists Strike and the biodiverse Thames Marshland.

Paul Dean, Director at Wallace Whittle “We share Peabody’s principles to provide a housing development for a connected community comprising open space with sustainable homes for the future.  It is a great opportunity for Wallace Whittle to help design and be part of creating Peabody’s great estates for the future, delivering the principles of the masterplan for Barking and Dagenham”.

The optimum design and installation of MEP services is essential to the smooth operation of any building however in the 365/24/7 data centre environment it is even more vital that the MEP design incorporates robust and reliable solutions that fulfil business objectives. The infrastructure also impacts on energy efficiency and operating costs so we must explore every opportunity to be energy efficient and considerate of the environment.

Our Stephen Phimister, as an Uptime Institute Accredited Tier Designer, is a recognised leader in the design of data centre MEP. We asked Stephen to share some of his current thoughts on Date Centre MEP design.

Resilience of every service within a data centre is fundamental. Since the Covid-19 pandemic we have seen organisations move rapidly from centralised to decentralised working. Many companies whom had previously resisted cloud services found themselves deploying them very quickly to enable remote working. This was observed by data centre operators who saw increased demand right from the initial few weeks of lockdown as services were modified to cope with the changing environment. As businesses continue to adapt to new ways of working there will be increased global demand for data centre space.

Data centre demands

The demands of a data centre MEP design are considerably greater than those required for a standard building and normal pressures on designers are intensified. For example, physical space is always a key factor to take into consideration with each rack having a rental value attached to it. Obtaining more rack space can make a considerable difference to revenue levels over the lifetime of a data centre therefore optimising plant space is a critical aspect of design.

Data centres can have a particularly high energy density. Consequently, the sheer amount of power and critical nature of the loads being served require significant expertise in the design and delivery of the solution. This is not just to support the immediate power needs of the IT systems. Multiple voltages levels, Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS), large standby generators, fuel storage, transformers, metering and power usage effectiveness are just a few of the multidimensional electrical design considerations. However, of equally critical importance is the cooling solution and although significant improvements have been made in recent years designers still strive to reduce energy demand. The challenges of targeting Net Zero Carbon apply to data centres as well!

As energy efficiency of the electrical and mechanical systems is critical, from both an environmental and commercial perspective, innovative design can minimise the power required to run a data centre. In view of the energy density, small improvements in design efficiency can have dramatic effects in reducing carbon footprint and running costs.

From compressor free cooling, to hot/cold aisle containment solutions, to increased server operating temperatures, no stone should be left unturned when it comes to reducing energy consumption. However, all these good design measures can be ineffective if the operator cannot monitor, and therefore control, the energy use in operation. Metering is therefore vitally important, and this is delivered through a comprehensive metering solution or may be combined into an Integrated Data Centre Infrastructure Management (IDCIM) system, which combines the MEP and IT operating conditions of the facility.

In terms of site selection, from an engineering perspective power and communications are key. Some clients may try to manage risk through geographical remoteness however, without network capacity, what may seem like an ideal site may render it impracticable for data centre use. It is therefore vital that early feasibility and investigations are commissioned prior to a data centre build project commencing, to mitigate or minimise the risk associated with these potentially expensive fixes.

Setting the standard

There are many different standards that clients may choose to follow. For example, the Uptime Institute is one that is recognised globally for the creation and administration of data centre design, construction, and operational sustainability certification. Its Tier rating, which defines the standards required for different resilience levels, is probably the most quoted (and often misquoted) reference in data centre design. There is also a plethora of further specialist standards which must also be considered by the MEP design team.

Local and National legislation can introduce complexities, and the designers must be skilled at juggling the sometimes diverging business, build and regulatory requirements. In terms of meeting client expectations, it is vital to identify early on any gaps between their aspirations and regulatory or design restrictions. Of course, every client has unique requirements for their data centre facility. So, to deliver a successful project, the MEP design team must be skilled in extracting this information and harnessing a client’s knowledge about their business operations.

For any building services project, effective communication is the key element as this will highlight potential issues early on in a project, saving costly changes further down the line. Due to the levels of resilience demanded by a data centre, effective project communication is even more vital. Given the importance of MEP services within the operation of a data centre it is therefore imperative that building services engineers are involved from the earliest stages of design to help inform a successful final building layout and configuration.

We will be delighted to offer our considerable expertise in any of your Data Centre or business critical MEP design requirements.

With the strengthening of our offer across England, we asked our England Director, Craig Robertson, to give us his thoughts on our recent regional growth and sector diversity…

Wallace Whittle operates nationwide from our locations in London and Warrington and currently have projects in Yorkshire and Manchester in the North, London and Plymouth in the South as well as Norwich in the East and Cardiff in Wales.

We’ve worked with great people on excellent projects, often providing engineering input to incorporate advanced and leading edge technologies and Modern Methods of Construction. A considerable focus has been put on achieving optimum sustainable solutions. The range of projects has been extensive, including those for blue chip clients and often working with world class architects, engineers and specialists.

Many of these developments are mixed-use and so there has always been a wide variety of challenges to meet. I have led many town centre and retail developments for Wallace Whittle, and it is rewarding to be able to work on solutions which provide a built environment for future generations, which will increasingly be integrated with Work, Rest & Play Developments.

While residential accommodation remains a core component within these projects, flexibility is also key with commercial and community facilities often included. We currently have projects which cover many sectors including residential mixed-use, incorporating affordable and market-value homes as well as private rental (PRS/BTR) apartments and serviced apartments, aparthotels, Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) in Bristol and Leeds, and CoLiving, which also provide leisure and workplace accommodation for occupiers.

I’ve seen a growth in the incorporation of leisure facilities in mixed-use urban regeneration and increasing focus on Wellbeing and community. Traditional elements such as cinemas and hotels are still very much evident but recently complemented by innovative fun options such as electronic crazy golf, high quality artisan street food, and interactive activities from darts to rock climbing.

Some of our recent leisure experience includes new Hotels for Hilton in Woking and Brighton, for Dalata in Brighton, and for Reef Group in Oxford.

Offices and contemporary workplace is a busy and growing sector, and some of our current projects include a new HQ for Royal London in the City of London at Fenchurch Street where they will relocate into the top floors of the building with 600 staff, and fit out of new offices for PayPal.

I was pleased to see completion of HB Reavis’ Bloom Clerkenwell office. We were involved in this project at the outset providing commercial expertise for their acquisition, and delivering a sustainable energy solution for the building.

We are also working with BT as part of their Better Workplace Programme an exciting strategic approach to deliver new state of the art workplace across the UK for one of the nations leading companies, having been involved with their new 6,000m² contact centre in Warrington and redeveloped workplace in Glasgow, and we have recently started on a similar refurbishment project in Cardiff of a similar size for BT.

We are also very pleased to be helping Nuffield with their new world class 10,000m² 54 bed, 5 theatre treatment centre in Bournemouth. Further project diversity is provided by our commission with Smurfit Kappa, the major packaging manufacturer, where we are integrating services solutions within their processing to optimise sustainable technologies at their plants in the North Wales.