Multinational technology company London
Customer
Multinational technology company
Sector
Data Centres
Location
London
Solution
To help ensure accurate data hall commissioning, Westgate Global installed a pre-engineered temporary HAC screen for a multinational technology company in the UK.
The reusable containment screens helped to deliver consistent heat load testing and cut installation time by half compared with traditional methods.
A leading global technology company is rapidly expanding its data centre capacity across the UK to meet growing demand for cloud and AI services. On a recent project in London, Westgate Global supported the commissioning of a new multi-hall data centre, where each hall had to be proven and brought online in phases, to meet a tight commissioning programme.
With strict uptime targets to uphold, testing systems before live deployment is critical. Before server cabinets or IT equipment could go into each new data hall, every hall had to be fully heat-load tested using a loadbank to safely simulate the heat a server hall will generate at full capacity. This lets engineers thoroughly test the data centre’s cooling and electrical infrastructure, reducing business risk and expensive service disruptions by validating that the infrastructure can handle expected loads.
While heat load testing is a critical step in data centre commissioning, results can be skewed if the hot exhaust air mixes with the cold air in the wider hall. Containment solves this by physically separating hot and cold air streams, so the temperatures measured during testing reflect what will actually happen once a live IT load is running in a properly contained environment.
In earlier testing, containment around the heat load testing process undermined the test. A previous supplier had created a makeshift solution using Correx sheeting fixed into a frame. The design had low structural integrity, so panels sometimes blew out mid-test, allowing hot air to mix back into the cold aisle/server hall. This led to inconsistent test results, which no longer reflected how the hall would perform under load. Each failure meant tests had to stop and be repeated, adding time to an already tight commissioning programme. Openings for load banks and heaters had to be cut by hand on site and, once cut, the sheeting could be used only once before disposal.
The project team needed containment that would hold firm throughout testing, give engineers easy access to the load banks and heaters, and be reusable on the next hall.
The multinational technology company’s project team came to Westgate Global on a recommendation. The same system had already delivered consistent, failure-free commissioning on a previous data centre project.
Westgate Global supplied and installed a pre-engineered temporary hot aisle containment system that clips straight into the existing data hall frame, with no need to build a separate frame. This design reduced installation time by 50% compared to the previous method, helping maintain a tight testing schedule. Once testing was complete, the flexible material used to create the screens rolled up quickly and stacked neatly on a pallet, allowing the system to move to the next hall or building on campus.
The engineered panels used to create the hot aisle containment system were designed to hold their shape and seal under test conditions, ensuring clean separation of supply and return air. The flexible material made it possible to seal fully around existing ducts, pipes and services, and the design included pre-engineered roll-up flaps, creating access points for load banks and engineers to monitor and adjust test parameters without breaking containment.
Commissioning ran with no panel blow-outs and no system failures. Because containment held firm throughout, no tests were stopped or repeated, and results were consistent from hall to hall. That gave engineers an accurate picture of how the cooling systems would perform under load, reducing the risk of a hall overheating once servers are live.
The system also sped up commissioning and cut costs. Installation took half the time of the previous method, helping keep the programme on track and cutting the time installers and subcontractors spent on site. Panels could be reused rather than thrown away after each test, reducing both the overall cost of testing and project waste.
| What we did | The result |
|---|---|
| Structurally calculated to the pressure ratings each test requires, so it holds for the whole test. | No containment failures and no repeated tests. |
| Pre-manufactured off site and fixed to the frame/ceiling, so installation was fast and caused no damage to the finished whitespace. | At least 50% faster installation than the previous method. |
| Adjustable access and heat flaps, so engineers can change airflow openings between tests without cutting or patching. | Consistent, accurate results from hall to hall. |
| Fully reusable, so after testing the screens were rolled up onto a pallet and moved to the next hall. | No waste, because one system covers multiple data halls. |
“By clipping straight into the existing hall frame, our temporary hot aisle containment screen installs in half the time, stays intact throughout testing and moves on to the next hall afterwards. For operators building at scale, that means faster commissioning and a system that can be reused across multiple data halls.”Zander Thomas External Sales Manager, Westgate Global
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