Interxion a Digital Realty Company | Wilhelm Fay Strasse, Building 2 | Frankfurt am Main, Germany

This is the second of three buildings for this colocation customer on their Sossenheim campus. Data Center Building 2 is a three-story, ground-up facility with a cast-in-place and precast concrete structure that provides the owner with an additional 10MW and six data halls to their campus. Additional ancillary space includes dedicated offices, de-box rooms, test rooms and dedicated plant areas. Equipment includes 180 rooftop condensers to cool the data halls, six generators and a UPS system.

DPR does not compromise on safety, going above and beyond to establish safe behaviors that focus on proactive incident prevention. For trade partners used to working with a compliance-only mindset, this can be an uncomfortable change. To find a balance between our methods and the established safety culture in Germany, the DPR team adopted a hybrid model that blended the best local practices along with our own safety standards.

This hybrid model relied on continual open learning, communication, and education. DPR worked closely with our German trade partners to understand their approach. They in turn were open to learning about DPR’s safety culture and how taking a few extra steps improves efficiency and cost savings in the long run. Many of the safe practices introduced to trade partners on Data Center Building 2 will be brought forward to their next project for safer long-term practices.

To identify any possible design issues or clashes early and effectively, the DPR BIM team built a 100 percent digital model of the data center from scratch in partnership with our in-house digital teams at vConstruct. Through the process, the team was able to identify design gaps and work through any outstanding design needs early to save the client money and possible lost time. For items such as the loading dock cantilever, retaining wall, and underpinnings DPR sketched through possible design solutions and worked closely with the architect to get them stamped and finalized.

Not only did the model help the teamwork through design gaps, but it was used to work through 536 total clashes digitally and avoid re-work onsite.