Sustainability at our Manchester data centre facilities 

We’re striving to reduce our carbon footprint in line with Manchester’s carbon neutrality goals.

A responsible data centre provider

We work hard to keep our energy consumption as low as we possibly can. That’s why we’ve taken several steps to monitor and reduce the amount of energy we use across our Manchester data centre facilities, in line with Manchester’s pledge to become a carbon neutral city by 2038.

Our approach to energy efficiency is award-winning, with power metered at every board and office in the building to intelligently reduce carbon emissions in all areas. Our newest data centre – MCR2 – has been built with heat re-use capability and photovoltaics (PV) for solar energy to generate our own renewable energy.

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MCR2 – developed with sustainability at its core

Our second Manchester data centre, MCR2 is being developed with a sustainability strategy at its core. The project includes a biodiversity plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems while advanced battery technology and hydrotreated vegetable oil will be used to power standby generator systems. Free cooling chiller technology will remove the need for water storage or reliant supply, and the cooling system has been designed to facilitate a district heat network to an adjacent housing estate, planned for future development close to the data centre:

  • Built on an existing brownfield site to support local development and regeneration plan.
  • Use of alternative building materials with a lower carbon impact.
  • Plant and equipment include an ESG assessment to determine the lowest impact production.
  • Cooling solution will deliver UK market-leading PUE with high efficiency free cooling chiller technology – removing the need for water storage or reliant supply.
  • Power solution uses advanced battery technology and hydrogenated vegetable oil fuel to power standby generator systems.
  • The project includes a biodiversity plan to protect nature and reverse the degradation of ecosystems.
  • Renewable energy: a photovoltaic (PV) system has been designed to convert solar energy into electricity for critical site systems. The PV system will generate over 83,000 kWh/year with an annual CO2 benefit of over 7.4 tonnes.
  • District heat network: the cooling system has been designed to facilitate a district heat network to an adjacent housing estate, planned for future development adjacent to the data centre. When required, heat exchanges will be used to transfer the thermal load of the data centre cooling loop to the local community heating network, also reducing the energy required for data centre cooling.
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Sustainability measures at our Manchester data centres

  • Heat re-use capability
  • Metered power to intelligently reduce carbon emissions in all areas
  • Cold aisle containment and blanking
  • Under-floor cold air channelling to minimise wastage
  • Variable fans within condenser units
  • Office space air conditioning controls to minimise wastage out of hours
  • Highly efficient cooling pumps
  • Controlled raising of temperatures in the cold and warm aisles as per ASHRAE guidelines and environmental best practice

Award winning energy efficiency

In 2020 we won the Data Centre Energy Efficiency Project of the Year Award at the prestigious DCS (Data Centre Solutions) awards following a £1.5 million investment into sustainability measures.

Read about our awards

Let’s talk

We have always invested (and will continue to invest) in the most efficient solutions regardless of increased upfront costs. This means that our clients can be sure that they host their infrastructure and workloads with one of the most energy efficiency conscious providers in the UK.

Get in touch with our team to find out how we support our clients to hit their ESG targets.

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