idGroup: Integrated achitectural and engineering design services for data centers.

Switch & Data

160,000 SF - Overall; 90,000 SF Raised Floor
Services: Project Management, Architecture, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.

Switch and Data, a colocation company, entered a long-term lease for a facility in North Bergen, NJ, to be used as a data center hosting facility. Integrated Design Group, Inc. was hired to renovate the entire 160,000 sf facility to create approximately 90,000 sf of raised floor. The project needed to be phased to meet the client’s market needs, and the layout had to allow for the placement of some computer racks in rows and some in cages. In order to reach Switch and Data’s goals Integrated Design Group, Inc. incorporated innovative design features, as well as a collaborative relationship with the client and municipal agencies to acquire variances to build in specific areas on this very restrictive site.

The project involved the gutting and complete renovation the existing facility, including significant site work to contain infrastructure and two new entry points. The site work is necessitating regulatory negotiations with the authorities in North Bergen as the site includes rights-of-way for overhead utilities and stringent set-back requirements. Because the process takes time, the project was divided into two phases, the first buildable without regulatory changes. The design requires a scalable and modular electrical system. The facility has been designed with a 5,400 ton modular chiller plant.