Wilson, Guarantee, C&R Mechanical Build Sisters of Mercy Data Center

A St. Louis-based construction team is building a 42,500-square-foot Tier III data center in Washington, MO for Sisters of Mercy Health System (Mercy). Construction on the data center is slated for completion in December 2009, with facility commissioning to be finished by August 2010.

The data center, valued at approximately $60 million, will serve 19 acute care hospitals with 4,000 beds, two heart hospitals, a managed care plan (Mercy Health Plans), physician offices and various healthcare facilities in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

 SM Wilson  Co. is general contractor, Guarantee is serving as design/build electrical contractor, joining general contractornical contractor C&R Mechanical Co is design/build mechanical.

The Mercy Health System is investing in the data center to advance its goal of having all patient medical records – diagnostics, therapies, outcomes – filed electronically. After the facility in Washington is commissioned, a data center in St. Louis will provide remote data archiving and restoration support to the facility in Washington.

A primary factor in selecting the Washington, Mo. site was access to and availability of electrical power. Prior to the start of construction, Guarantee and the team helped Mercy resolve issues related to power, namely the distance of redundant power and the cost of getting it and other utilities to the site. The amount of power being brought to the building is sufficient to light a town of 14,000 people.

The electrical design is scalable, decreasing the need for upfront investment. Initially, the center will have a capacity of four 1.0MW 416/240V N+1 modular uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, each expandable to 1.6MW in 200KW segments as the load grows.

To achieve further savings, each UPS is linked to a 416/240V unit sub that serves the data center by way of remote power panels located in data center racking. The configuration eliminates additional transformation typically found in data centers served by conventional 480V to 120/208V power distribution units. All servers are merely connected at 240V to 120V, creating significant savings in rack wiring and reduced energy costs by eliminating additional transformation losses.

 A web-based building management system controls interior and exterior lighting designed to ASHRAE 90.1 2004 standards. Also, all mechanical motors are high efficiency with variable speed drives.

The center carries a finish specification of 368 watts per square foot of raised floor area. Upon opening, it will have a 35KV customer sub-station with dual 7 MVA 12.47KV secondary transformers that are expandable to 14 MVA, with transmission and delivery rates at transmission-grade level to enable it to support next-generation, high-density systems. 2N redundant utility service is provided by a pair of separately routed 138/35KV utility transformers, with N+1 emergency service back-up provided by two 2MW 12.47KV diesel generators (expandable to four).

Two fiber-optic concerns serve the site, using the “front door/back door” technique to assure utmost service reliability.

Security is optimal. Entry checkpoints are manned via closed circuit television, with entry intercoms monitored by a 24/7/365 command center.  All perimeter and non-public entries are keycard controlled, while biometric print and iris readers protect entry to the center and secure areas. Each row of racks in the data center has dedicated video surveillance.  In total, more than 100 cameras protect the data center and generator building, both of which are constructed to F2 tornadic standards. The buildings are also earthquake and blast-resistant, with multiple zoned pre-action systems for fire protection.

St. Louis-based Sisters of Mercy Health System is the ninth largest Catholic healthcare system in the U.S. based on net patient service revenue. More than 31,000 professionals and 4,600 physicians are employed or practice at Mercy facilities.

Columns