Republic Bank Limited
Port of Spain, Trinidad
Statement of Requirements, Design, Engineering, Construction Management
IBM/BRUNS-PAK were selected by Republic Bank Ltd. to develop a statement of requirements, architectural design and engineering, construction management consulting and commissioning services for a new data center and support infrastructure building to be developed on a Greenfield site outside Port of Spain, Trinidad. Upon completion the facility has become the new primary data center for the Bank.
The project scope included the infrastructure development of the undeveloped site; providing communications and utility services. The single story structure, which is approximately 26,000 square feet in area, is raised roughly five feet above the surrounding grade to enhance security and provide protection from flooding. The new facility provides the Bank with over 10,000 square feet of raised access floor space; including approximately 5,000 square feet of “white space”, 2,500 square feet of future expansion “white space”, a Command Center, a War Room, a Staging area and other raise floor support functions. The structure, designed to withstand category ‘3’ hurricane winds, is a concrete frame with an insulated exterior metal wall panel system over concrete block exterior walls and covered by a ‘double roof’ system. The receiving area / loading dock supports both the IT technical functions and the mechanical / electrical infrastructure areas.
The mission critical facility incorporates a ‘2N’ segregated independent redundant electrical systems to provide concurrent maintainability in an “A/B” configuration, with the potential of a future “A/B/C” configuration. The mechanical system provides ‘N+1’ redundant configuration and utilizes a ‘hot aisle’ containment system in the Data Center. A ‘double interlock’ pre-action sprinkler system provides protection of the entire facility while a full flooding gaseous suppression system provides primary protection for the Data Centre and other critical areas. An Aspirating Smoke Detection (ASD) system provides for early detection in critical areas.