Ferrycarrig was engaged to carry out utility installation and civil construction works for the construction of the SY5 Data Centre facility.

The Equinix Sydney Data Centre SY5 is the largest in Australia to date, offering 9,220 cabinets at full build. The building consists of 2 floors of high-tech industrial storage in the form of collocation halls for ICT equipment, 4 floors of a flexible and permanent office, and multi-purpose high-security meeting spaces.

Ferrycarrig’s scope of works included the following:

• Installation of 500m of transmission conduits.
• Pulling of four, 33kV feeder cables through new and existing ducts to provide the Data Centre with power to extend their data halls from the Alexandria Sub-Transmission Station and the Equinix
• Switchroom, totalling over 1km.
• Construction of a new joint bay.
• Permanent restoration of the affected 150m x 8m roadway and driveway to original condition, including matching the existing construction joints and brushed finish.
• 20m of trenching under the existing two-storey gantry
• Installation of conduits and cable hauling of 800m of 33kV feeder’s transmission

To avoid design issues, we were involved in developing the design for the temporary works, ensuring the final proposal was constructible and safe. All designs were third-party verified with all inspections and verifications carried out.

We were required to complete cable pulling in time for Ausgrid to begin termination works of a congested substation. The project team liaised with Ausgrid to create a clear and concise cable pulling plan, detailing maximum pulling tensions and the desired route through the basement area of the substation. Ferrycarrig crews successfully installed the cables with no issues, enabling Ausgrid to begin their termination works on time.

The Data Centre owner did not want an outage on the existing power feed while the new 33kV power feed was being installed. To ensure this, we had the cable pull direction reversed and the location of cable pushing bays changed. Cables were installed without an outage.

The design for trenching under the existing two-storey gantry proposed dismantling and reinstalling the gantry, presenting risks in maintaining the program and original budget. Identified early in the project, we provided an engineered solution to support the gantry rather than dismantling and reinstalling it. Removing the need to work at heights and eliminating high-risk activity.

The quantity of Asbestos-Contaminating material (ACM) and non-recyclable General Solid Waste (GSW) had the potential to increase handling and disposal costs and presented cross-contamination risks. Prior to excavation, ground conditions were assessed by an experienced geotechnical engineer. Alignment was broken up into respective waste classifications. The site team separated the stockpiles into individual classifications of materials including concrete, ACM, recyclable and non-recyclable GSW.

This initiative reduced handling and disposal costs by approximately 40%. Separating stockpiles meant a larger quantity of materials could be recycled safely, therefore the solution was also more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The solution saved $50,000 and reduced the program by 3 weeks.