AIT builds data centre in The Shard

AIT Partnership Group Ltd, UK integrator of Data Centre & Infrastructure Management Software (DCIM), has built a data centre on the 28th floor of The Shard for South Hook Gas. The project was completed in May, allowing South Hook Gas to move into their head office as planned.

  • Wednesday, 17th September 2014 Posted 10 years ago in by Phil Alsop

The Shard, which is the tallest structure in Western Europe, created a unique set of issues that AIT had to solve. “Fitting out a data centre on the upper floors of a landmark building like The Shard with limited space, and difficult access was particularly complex,” said Steve Bailey, Managing Director of AIT. “AITs design had to make the most of the tight space available and provide the level of redundancy required. We had to be very careful selecting components that we could install on the 28th floor!”


AIT recommended 47U racks to maximise available space in the room. The servers are dual fed with each A and B feed supported by a UPS providing over 96% efficiency. The design also uses bypass switches for UPS maintenance and intelligent PDUs with environmental sensors in each rack to measure power usage and monitor the temperature and humidity throughout the room.


AIT Partnership Group Ltd were contracted to provide the expertise by Datrix who deliver managed IT services to South Hook Gas.


“We were impressed with AIT’s breadth of knowledge,” said Darren Ellis Managed Services Consultant at Datrix Ltd. “Their guidance proved invaluable and allowed us to maximise the use of space whilst ensuring it would meet the tight access restrictions of the building and provide a reliable, highly efficient solution”.