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Unipol SAI

Construction of the Unipol Assicurazioni data centre

EPC Contracting

Customer Unipol Assicurazioni

Where Bologna

Solution General Contracting

Sector Data center

Target achieved Conversion of the building into a new state-of-the-art data processing centre.

        
          Adaptation and modification works with expansion of the mechanical, electrical and electrotechnical systems specific to the new Data Centre. Installation of air conditioning, lighting, electrical power, data transmission, special electrical and fire prevention/fire protection systems in the office block.

Strengths

The work on the building involved complex and significant engineering of both electrical and mechanical systems. This work was carried out in various indoor and outdoor areas.

The building obtained a TIER IV certificate from the UPTIME INSTITUTE, the main world creator and manager of data centre certification standards for sustainability and operating efficiency.

Key Numbers

6.935 m²

Total site area

Background

In 2013, a major project was launched to manage the effects of climate change. This ongoing project required the direct involvement of the Technical Department of Unipol Assicurazioni and, since 2014, of UnipolSai.
The aim is to promote resilience to change.
Following the acquisition of the former Premafin Group, the company decided to prevent the risk of duplicating the number of servers by dismantling the existing IT infrastructure and building a completely new one.
This will adopt much more advanced technologies to reduce the energy consumption of both the working systems and the cooling systems in the installation premises.
Due to the nature of the business and the IT equipment used by employees and data centres, this area has a considerable impact on energy consumption and therefore on greenhouse gas emissions.
The design takes into account the priorities set out in the Unipol Group's three-year Sustainability Plan (2015): reducing energy and water consumption and minimising paper-based procedures and documents.

        
          The purpose of these actions was to install the mechanical and electrical systems necessary to ensure the smooth and complete operating continuity of the IT systems in the new Data Centre.

Challenges

The technological systems supporting the equipment guarantee reliability and energy efficiency, aspects that have been given top priority in the selection and sizing of the materials and equipment installed in the plant.

Project Tasks

The project was divided into two lots:

Lot 1

Adaptation of the existing building to complete the new Data Processing Centre (DPC);

Lot 2

Works inside and outside the main building to complete the office block.

Implementation

MECHANICAL SYSTEMS

Mechanical systems for air conditioning, water, sanitation, drainage, air conditioning fluids, fire prevention and gas distribution have been installed to serve the new Data Centre and offices. The aim is to ensure the protection and full operability of IT equipment. The systems include:

Cooling units for chilled water for the Data Centre and electrical rooms;
Chilled water distribution with dual branch for operational continuity;
Pumping unit dedicated to each branch;
"Under" type precision air conditioners for air conditioning each room in the data centre;
External air intake and exhaust sections to ensure the proper functioning of the system in free-cooling mode;
Fire protection system with automatic shutdown to protect the Data Centre and electrical equipment rooms;

Water pumping station with dual rainwater pumping system to protect the containment tank of the rotating UPS units.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS

Highly reliable electrical systems with double radial architecture and full redundancy were supplied to support the operational continuity of IT equipment even in the event of failure. The main tasks included: