British modular infrastructure specialist Secure IT Environments has built a data center for the Energy Systems Catapult, a government agency established in 2015 to support innovative energy businesses.

The facility at the Catapult’s offices in Birmingham was delivered in eight weeks, and Secure IT Environments claims it has achieved PUE of 1.17, in line with the agency’s sustainability mission.

Catapult
– Thinkstok / yurakr

Lead by example

Secure IT Environments was founded in 1982 and has worked extensively with the public sector, having built modular data centers for the National Health Service (NHS), universities and local councils.

The new internal data center for the Energy Systems Catapult was constructed on the seventh floor of a central Birmingham office. It features raised floors and cold aisle containment.

Secure IT Environments said key construction challenges on the site included ensuring power supply cabling was adequate and could reach distribution boards, and extending the pipework for the roof-mounted air conditioning system condensers.

The facility will enable Energy Systems Catapult to continue its work on an intelligent, carbon-free energy system.

“Delivering a data center quickly requires a great deal of skill, so as not to compromise success,” said Chris Wellfair, projects director at Secure IT Environments.

“We have built up a wealth of skills and a proprietary methodology in this area, which means we can deliver challenging projects at speed without compromising on attention to detail, energy efficiency, security or design quality. This proven track record is one of the reasons that we were selected through the tender process to deliver this project for the Energy Systems Catapult.”

The Energy Systems Catapult is one of ten non-profit organizations established by the UK government to encourage growth in specific market segments.

Other Catapult initiatives include Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Digital Catapult, Future Cities Catapult, High Value Manufacturing Catapult, Medicine Discovery Catapult, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult, Precision Medicine Catapult, Satellite Applications Catapult, Transport Systems Catapult and the upcoming Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult, based in Wales.