For this project, Dunham served as the prime consultant, providing the county with full engineering, architectural, and commissioning services for the upgrade of their legacy data center. The project resulted in a fully remodeled Tier III 500 kW data center. The 10,000 SF facility houses all the critical functions for Hennepin County. The project was completed in multiple phases to maintain the operation of IT systems throughout construction. The data center has an entirely new power, cooling, fire suppression, VESDA, and automation systems that can operate without any connection to the building systems or power grid. In the event of a utility power failure, the Hennepin County data center will be able to operate seamlessly. Our team incorporated new data center “best practices” into the design, which includes a new floor system and structural reinforcement for added rack weight, hot aisle and cold aisle implementation, a ceiling return air system for improved energy efficiency, and dedicated support space for IT staff to monitor and manage the data center.