An official topping out ceremony for the development of a purpose built data center building iTech Tower 2 was held on 14 Jan 2015 with the participation of Miss Joey Lam, JP, Deputy Government Chief Information Officer (Policy and Community), Mr. Michael Tang & Mr. Jackson Kwong, Directors of WSP, top management of Grand Ming Group Holdings Limited (stock code on the Hong Kong Exchange: 1271) and other business leaders.
iTech Tower 2 is the second data centre building of Grand Ming Group and will be the first purpose-built data centre building in Hong Kong riding on the Policy of Lease Modification for Development of an Industrial Lot for High-tier Data Center Use. The ceremony was organized to mark the occasion of such major completion in the building superstructure, it is a traditional ceremony to celebrate the last concrete pour on the main roof of a building.
iTech Tower 2 is designed to meet the stringent requirements of high-tier data center, ready for Tier IV specification and with reliability of 99.999%. With an estimated development cost of HK$682 million, the infrastructure will accommodate 1,400 racks in the gross floor area of 108,000sf. WSP - being one of the World’s leading player in engineering professional services consulting firms - was appointed to charter the design and with full participation in the project works. Based on the design, it demands significant power provision from the local utilities CLP Power Hong Kong and with diverse feed from different primary substations. By the time we fully energize the building, all fourteen transformers will load up servers of nearly 6MW (equivalent to 12,000 dual-processor servers).
Grand Ming Group is the first company applying for lease modification to convert an existing industrial site to high-tier data center use. Miss Joey Lam said she is delighted to see such commitment to further enhance the data center portfolio of Hong Kong.
Mr. Jackson Kwong, Director of WSP HK Ltd, who has been leading the design work of the project said: “We are delighted to celebrate this key milestone of iTech Tower 2, a project which reflects our unwavering commitment to the highest standards of quality, reliability and operation excellence.”
Mr. Chan Hung Ming, Chairman of Grand Ming Group said: “The process in getting through all governmental approval is not simple because of such unprecedented case in using high-tier data center use on an industrial land development, thanks to the Data Centre Facilitation Unit of the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) for facilitating the incorporation of unique requirements of high-tier data centers into the land lease and building plan.”
The development of iTech Tower 2 will strengthen the positioning of Hong Kong as a regional data center hub, with a wide selection of data centers that can meet the most stringent requirements of high-end customers. The next stage of work to be completed is the M&E provision, which includes moving in all major equipment like diesel generators, chillers and Uninterruptible Power Supply systems. Thereafter, works on Testing & Commissioning of individual system and thus Integrated Performance Verification Test will commence, with a view to completing all construction and installation works for occupation in Q4 2015. For more information about Grand Ming Group, visit: www.grandming.com.hk