Flexiscreen keeps data centre construction moving in Arctic conditions

Cold-weather curing on a remote site

The Arctic Circle is one of the hardest construction environments on Earth. Everything from foundation design to concrete pours and logistics schedules must be planned around extreme weather constraints. For a contractor working on a data centre build in Luleå, northern Sweden — just south of the Arctic Circle — extreme temperatures threatened to impact concrete pours and disrupt the programme schedule.

Concrete cannot cure effectively below approximately 5°C, so the only way to keep works moving through the winter was to enclose and heat the working area. With outside temperatures plummeting to -20°C, this meant a temperature differential of some 25°C between the heated internal works area and the external environment. Without an effective temporary seal around the building, heat would escape rapidly, making heating costly and inefficient. The contractor needed a high-performance solution that could retain heat, reduce energy loss, and keep the programme moving.

With a proven track record on previous projects in challenging Nordic environments, Westgate Global was chosen as a trusted partner. After working closely with the contractor to understand the site’s specifications, the team supplied Flexiscreen, a high-seal temporary engineered weathering solution.

1,000m² of Flexiscreen, no scaffold required

Approximately 1,000m² of Flexiscreen was installed to enclose the working zone. Because the panels suspend directly from the building’s existing steelwork using clips and S-hooks, no additional supporting framework or scaffold was needed, which proved to be a significant operational advantage on a remote site. With the location exposed to the elements, wind load calculations and structural design support were provided, ensuring that the solution was fit for the environment.

Sealing the enclosure was critical to its performance. The client had considered alternative options such as modified scaffold sheeting, but these would not have provided the required level of seal. A lower-seal solution would have allowed significant heat loss, meaning heating costs would have been exceptionally high, and the risk of concrete not curing effectively would also have been heightened. The Flexiscreen panels were joined using Flexiscreen’s v-overlap system, then tensioned and secured to the floor with battens, sealing tightly around ducts, pipes, steelwork and at ceiling level. The result was an over 99% weather- and dust-tight enclosure, achieving thermal resistance of 5.40–5.68 W/m²K. This proven performance gave the contractor confidence the system would outperform conventional scaffold sheeting or lower-grade temporary weathering products.

Maintaining momentum

The enclosure retained heated air inside the working zone, keeping the internal temperature above the +5°C required for concrete curing. Compared with a lower-seal scaffold sheeting alternative, the improved heat retention reportedly reduced heating costs by hundreds of thousands of euros.

On this project, the Flexiscreen system delivered a weather-tight enclosure suited to the extremes of temperature found on a remote Nordic site. By retaining heat, it enabled cold-weather concrete pours to continue and significantly reduced energy costs, protecting the construction programme against weather-related delay. The project demonstrated Westgate Global’s ability to support demanding builds in remote, cold-climate locations.

Learn more about Flexiscreen