The construction of hyperscale Data Centre’s has never been so huge as it is right now with DC’s building built across the globe for the biggest companies in the world, the onsite management of construction contamination throughout the build phase is vitally important to ensure the best cleanliness standards are achieved when handing over the white space to the end user.
Construction Contaminant (Particulate Matter) build up can reduce the effectiveness of heat dissipating units on servers such as heat sinks, and fans. In addition, Data Centre air plenums can be obstructed by various materials generated by contractors and should be managed progressively over time instead of the traditional ‘one pass clean’ at the end of the build programme.
To achieve BS EN ISO 14644-1:2015 Level 8 – Previous US Fed – STD. 209E – Class 100,000 (areas that are subject to air filtration), Critical Facilities Solutions recommend through experience that a team of trained Maintenance cleaning technicians should be active on the DC build project as soon as the building becomes watertight, these technicians will start to manage contamination across the campus in preparation for the deployment of the clinical clean technicians who will complete the final ISO cleans prior to handing over the white space to the end user.
The Maintenance technicians conduct a clean throughout all areas of the building on a continuous basis from the start of fit out up to handover. This consists of high, mid and low-level cleaning. The Maintenance cleaning team manage the bulk of the cleaning works and maintain the internal building environment. No ISO standard is associated with the Maintenance clean, although the air quality levels are monitored daily in the critical spaces via the use of an APC (Air Particle Counter) throughout the build process by the cleaning team, all results obtained are analysed and trended by CFS and shared with the construction management team for full project visibility, this process highlights any activity that is contributing to air borne particulates and is a trigger to deploy cleaning labour to the area that is subject to high amounts of contamination being generated.
Some additional benefits for Maintenance cleaning on Data Centre construction projects are:
Containment
Cleaning of containment pre-installation, items such as cable trays/cable baskets/internal ducting/pipework will be cleaned by the Maintenance team and will be free from contamination prior to installation.
Plant/Equipment
The Maintenance team will ensure all Plant/MEWPS are clean and free from contamination onsite (especially when working in the critical Data Hall spaces). All MEWP working platforms should be clean and clear from redundant materials/surplus tools/mud and contamination.
Anti-Contamination Products
The Maintenance team are responsible for the installation and management of anti-contamination products across the Data Centre build, these range from placing down contamination control mats at key areas across the site to installing/managing overshoe stations.
The ultimate aim of the Maintenance team is to work in partnership with the Data Centre construction company to ensure the building is managed in terms of particulate matter, best cleaning practises are adopted, and awareness is raised regarding the importance of controlling contamination in mission critical spaces.
If you would like to know more about controlling contamination on Data Centre construction projects, please contact the Critical Facilities Solutions team at:
