Stafford Office Building – LEED Gold Certified

SOLUTION 

Developing an office building inside a traditional New England style historical district can present a host of challenges, but building an office building to house a mission critical Data Center within an historical district that is also LEED Gold certified requires a precise knowledge of computer network facilities and a sensitive design approach to create a facility in tune with its surroundings.

WFC’s objective for the 48,000 SF Tier III Data Center Project was to create a home for a computer networking client and provide an environmentally safe and efficiently managed building. Additionally, the new building will contain approximately 18,000 sf of leasable class “A” office space in addition to the Data Center and Stafford Office spaces.

The challenge was to meet the design of a 21st century technology building to reflect the historical correctness established in this circa 1800’s town.  To achieve the municipality’s approval for construction the design elements captured notable architectural features symbolic of the area history and aesthetic heritage of the community.

To accommodate the enormous energy consumption critical to this type of facility, several vital and redundant infrastructure systems were employed.  To relieve the power demand associated with a Data Center, WFC incorporated an Open Loop Geothermal system to provide relief on the demands for the conventional environmental space conditioning within the business occupancies.  An open loop system can be installed economically if there are existing wells or a high water table allowing the use of a shallow well.  Additional economies are realized in cold climates that allow for intermediate “free cooling” by passing cold well water through a coil in the air handling unit.  The Data Center cooling shall be from redundant down draft Liebert Computer Room A/C (CRAC) Units via an 18” raised access floor system and returned through overhead ceiling plenums.