The PETP team viewed emerging potential design solutions through two key lenses: effectiveness and efficiency.

The most common systems installed in data centres use chilled water as the medium between the internal and external units.Chilled water systems offer significant flexibility:.

Data hall configuration:.Chilled water systems can accommodate various data hall layouts and are suitable for future integration of liquid cooling technologies.. Heat rejection plant location:.The heat rejection plant can be positioned on the roof or even remotely from the data hall itself, providing valuable design freedom..

External heat rejection options:.Chilled water systems are compatible with a range of external heat rejection options, including dry cooling, dry cooling with partial evaporative assist, and full adiabatic cooling.

This allows for optimisation based on climate and environmental considerations.. A key factor in maximising the heat rejection system (with chilled water) efficiency is minimising the heat rejection unit approach temperature i.e.

the difference between the external air temperature and the chilled water outlet temperature.This lower threshold is only achievable by refurbished buildings and timber structures that account for carbon sequestration and design with ambitious low carbon specifications.. Bryden Wood aspires to design new buildings that achieve at least the good practice thresholds shown in Figure 4 and where feasible deliver best practice performance.

In order to be able to meet these aspirations, it is necessary to develop a clear strategy for both embodied and operational carbon..From LETI: graphic showing the range of performance based on benchmarked projects..

Comparison embodied carbon targets from RIBA, LETI and GLA.Achieving net zero operational and embodied carbon with lean design and modern methods of construction.