New data center Polanenpark, Amsterdam | New data center in record time wind and watertight

On behalf of the American company CyrusOne, Cosimco NV is building a new data center at the Polanenpark in Halfweg (Metropolitan Amsterdam). The Belgian main contractor managed to make the immense building wind and watertight in just five months (!). A record! Jeroen Van Doorslaer, project leader at Cosimco, gives all the ins and outs of the project with a strong international character; an American client, a managing director, architect and engineering firm from Great Britain, a Belgian main contractor and subcontractors mostly from the Netherlands.

The data center has a footprint of 120 by 60 meters and is as high as it is deep.

Cosimco is not an unknown player in the Netherlands and was even represented with its own branch until 2008. "This type of project is right up our alley," says Van Doorslaer. "We specialize in the construction of industrial halls, including warehouses and data centers. The construction speed requested for this project is absolutely the maximum. Construction-wise, it couldn't get any faster either, taking into account the drying times of concrete, et cetera. Within five months we had the building wind and watertight, an absolute record considering its size. After all, the law of large numbers applies here. The data center has a footprint of 120 by 60 meters and is as high as it is deep." Van Doorslaer is referring to the height above and below ground level: the building is 22.5 meters high and is founded on piles of over 22 meters.

Efficient construction team

Cosimco's construction team is formed on site by two superintendents (one for structural work and one for interior finishing), a project manager, a buyer and a work planner. "In short, not too big a team, but certainly as efficient. The specifications were largely written based on English standards and principles, which we translated into Dutch standards. The execution is done for 95% by subcontractors, in which we rely as much as possible on Dutch parties (80%) and a small part on Belgian parties (20%). For example, the steel structure, the main supporting structure, is provided by GS Staalwerken. They are handling no less than 3,500 tons of steel in total. Furthermore, the building is equipped with two intermediate floors consisting of Comflor plates (steel plates with a concrete compression layer), each with a storey height of 7 meters, and the facade is sealed with sandwich panels. The sandwich panels are special specimens, 20 centimeters thick and made 2 hours fire-resistant. They weigh 300 kilograms each."

Prior to the new data center, Cosimco has also planned an office area, three stories high with a floor area of 950 square meters per layer.

Foundation Massif

Before the new data center, Cosimco has also provided an office area, three layers high with a floor area of 950 m² per layer. In addition, next to the data center, the so-called service yard has been set up. This is a generator park for 24 emergency batteries and generators. "The generators are each placed on their own foundation mass of 14 by 3.75 meters and 80 centimeters thick, which were realized by Van Berlo according to an innovative methodology," says Van Doorslaer. "These 'blocks' - like the data center itself and the building's floor structure - are also founded on piles. In total, as many as 2,250 piles were installed over the entire project and 3,000 m³ of concrete was processed."

Cosimco will deliver the new data center by contract at the end of September. "The additional works must be completed by the end of October at the latest. Talks are still ongoing to make the heat produced in the data center available to the city of Haarlem later on. For us as Cosimco, the new building for CyrusOne is in any case another nice reference in the Netherlands."