Equinix, a provider of global data centre services, has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system gold certification for the first phase instruction of its facility in Mascot, Sydney.
LEED is maintained by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and is a framework for green building design, construction, operations and maintenance. It takes into account factors such as energy savings, water efficiency and CO2 emissions reduction.
Phase one of Equinix’s third Sydney International Business Exchange (IBX) data centre, known as SY3, was completed in 2011 and was built to LEED standards. Phase two of the building project will be completed in Q3 2012 and has been built to the same standards as phase one. Work will then start on phase three of the project.
“This award acts as a testament to the ongoing commitment from Equinix to build to the highest standards and strengthens its position as a global leader in the data centre industry,” said Tony Simonsen, managing director of Equinix Australia. “Our aim is to continue to raise these standards, ensuring we are as efficient and green as possible while keeping our customers’ energy consumption and costs down.”
SY3 phase one is an AU$62.4M investment and provides the equivalent of 1,000 cabinets of capacity, which will expand to 3,000 cabinets of capacity after the next two phases. with the rollout of subsequent phases.
Equinix highlighted several aspects of the build as part of the LEED certification, including the 100% reduction of potable water for sewage conveyance through the capture and reuse of rainwater, the fact that 78% of on-site generated construction waste wasdiverted from landfill, the re-use of up to 98% of the building’s existing structural elements (walls, floors, and roofs), and overall energy cost savings of 22.24%.
“The SY3 building was originally designed by famed architect Harry Seidler and used as a government paper store. It’s an interesting evolution that this building has moved from storing huge amounts of paper in archive boxes to data now stored in racks of servers,” Simonsen said.
Equinix operates in 38 markets globally and provides data service centre services for more than 4,000 enterprises, cloud, digital content and financial companies.