Multi-million pound Heathrow data centre upgrade completed
Author: Joe Peck
Managed IT provider Redcentric has completed a multi-million pound electrical infrastructure upgrade at its Heathrow Corporate Park data centre in London.
The project was partly funded through the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, which supports high-energy organisations adopting lower-carbon technologies. The programme included replacement of legacy uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).
As part of the upgrade, Centiel supplied StratusPower modular UPS equipment to protect an existing 7 MW critical load. Redcentric states the system design allows the facility to increase capacity to 10.5 MW without additional infrastructure work.
The site reports a rise in UPS operating efficiency from below 90% to more than 97%, which could reduce future emissions over the expected lifecycle of the equipment.
Modular UPS deployment and installation
Paul Hone, Data Centre Facilities Director at Redcentric, comments, “Our London West colocation data centre is a strategically located facility that offers cost effective ISO-certified racks, cages, private suites, and complete data halls, as well as significant on-site office space. The data centre is powered by 100% renewable energy, sourced solely from solar, wind, and hydro.
“In 2023 we embarked on the start of a full upgrade across the facility which included the electrical infrastructure and live replacement of legacy UPS before they reached end of life. This part of the project has now been completed with zero downtime or disruption.
“In addition, for 2026, we are also planning a further deployment of 12 MW of power protection from two refurbished data halls being configured to support AI workloads of the future.”
Aaron Oddy, Sales Manager at Centiel, adds, “A critical component of the project was the strategic removal of 22 MW of inefficient, legacy UPS systems. By replacing outdated technology with the latest innovation, we have dramatically improved efficiency delivering immediate and substantial cost savings.
“StratusPower offers an exceptional 97.6% efficiency, dramatically increasing power utilisation and reducing the data centre’s overall carbon footprint – a key driver for Redcentric.
“The legacy equipment was replaced by Centiel’s StratusPower UPS system, featuring 14x500kW Modular UPS Systems. This delivered a significant reduction in physical size, while delivering greater resilience as a direct result of StratusPower’s award-winning, unique architecture.
Durata carried out the installation work.
Paul Hone concludes, “Environmental considerations were a key driver for us. StratusPower is a truly modular solution, ensuring efficient running and maintenance of systems. Reducing the requirement for major midlife service component replacements further adds to its green credentials.
“With no commissioning issues [and] zero reliability challenges or problems with the product, we are already talking to the Centiel team about how they can potentially support us with power protection at our other sites.”
For more from Centiel, click here.
