Schneider Electric completes Sagrada Família data centre

Schneider Electric has completed Sagrada Família’s first state-of-the-art customized prefabricated data centre. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most visited tourist attraction in Barcelona, Spain, Sagrada Família was in need of a portable solution that would upgrade its small server room to a more robust data centre, allowing site operators to better manage the church’s security and effectively control the millions of visitors that come to the site each year during construction.

“Today, there is no longer a one size fits all approach to data centre design and build. For Sagrada Família, it was clear that a flexible and portable, yet powerful facility was needed to meet the unique demands of their growing business,” said Kevin Brown, Vice President, Global Data Center Strategy and Technology, Schneider Electric. “Schneider Electric is privileged to work with this UNESCO World Heritage Site to deliver a prefabricated data centre solution that not only fits within the complex environment around the Sagrada Família, but delivers the security, availability, reliability and agility needed to support this popular attraction during and after construction.”

Sagrada Família continues a long history of transformation through an ongoing, complex, construction project, therefore building a new data centre within the building was not an option. Sagrada Família needed a resilient and flexible data centre that can respond to the continually evolving construction process, while also maintaining a high level of security and protection. Additionally, because the data centre construction could not happen on site in the construction zone, portability was key in enabling Sagrada Família to easily move the data centre to accommodate changes in the construction zones over time.

Sagrada Família was also in need of increased IT capacity to support a new digital ticketing, validation and baffle gate system for visitors. Beyond this, as a highly-trafficked site with about three million visitors per year, maintaining onsite security was also a top priority for Sagrada Família. The data centre will control more than 250 security cameras placed around the site’s perimeter and provide the IT support system for the business’s email platform, and other corporate applications.

To meet these unique needs, Schneider Electric designed and manufactured a customized state-of-the-art prefabricated data centre that can easily be moved when necessary and that also required minimal installation on site, preventing any disruption to tourists or the construction. The module was delivered on site with the racks, UPS, power distribution, cooling and management pre-installed and ready for deployment. The module enclosure was designed for durability and security, with electrical and mechanical connections that can be easily disconnected for mobility services for the data centre module and interior infrastructure components.

In addition to the prefabricated data centre build, Schneider Electric will also provide ongoing maintenance services for the data centre to help maintain its conditions. These services include break and fix support, remote monitoring and special conditions on spare parts, travel and labour for corrective services.