At Colliers India, our highly motivated and dedicated MEP team drives exceptional results in Technical Due Diligence (TDD) projects.
Background:
Our client with an objective to make an equity investment, hold and manage data center assets for Tier IV, appointed Colliers to provide TDD for one of their projects located in South India.
Scope:
The firm appointed experts from Colliers to advise on the suitability of land and Building, Power availability, Power back-ups concerning DGs and UPS units, transformer capacities, chiller configurations, space for substation, floor wise transformers, main panels, fire suppression units, sprinklers, racks and servers, PAC units, etc. Our task was to evaluate and validate the extent of land area possession with the developer, review and advice on approvals and NoCs required from various authorities, review and comment on the feasibility of existing assets, and the units' healthiness AMC records of the various equipment. Our team conducted a thorough review of the design brief report, schematics, load calculations and verified the system as per as-built drawings and documentation.
Our experts prepared a detailed report highlighting the present scenario. They shared recommendations over the DBR, system improvement, compliance with the latest National Building codes, site observations, compliance with the statutory regulations, etc. We also prepared the costs to complete and detail the line of action to complete balance work so that building can be acquired to run the data center at the shortest of turnaround time.
Approach:
The TDD team with subject matter experts of Colliers undertook a site visit, carried out an exhaustive study and review of all the various approvals and NoCs from the authorities, design considerations, drawings, technical specifications, design brief reports. Further, the team carried out site walk-throughs to verify the various MEP-related equipment's physical appearance with respect to the project checklists; like asset checklists, the status of various AMCs carried out in the past and of the various racks, UPS and back up batteries, fire-fighting system with VESDA system.
Simultaneously, the in-house design experts carried out Tier IV configuration, which calls for downtime, maintenance, design paths, redundancy requirements, calculations to arrive at the number of racks, servers, overall power requirement, rack heights, HVAC, and fire-fighting routings inside the data center. The task was also to understand the area for the White space to house the racks and Grey space for the rest of the balance equipment.
Our experts prepared a comprehensive report covering the following:
- Key observations on the approvals and NoCs from the authority. Inferences and recommendations on the further steps to be followed also incorporating the design points mentioned in the NoCs, in the drawings.
- Detailed observations on the feasibility of improving the system, challenges to improve and maintain the system with the latest development in products and design aspects, and highlighting any alarming observations and way forward.
- Comment on the power enhancement, space for the DG sets, space for chillers, rack improvements, upgrade of firefighting system, etc.
- Comments on the brief design reports (architecture, structure, MEP, vertical transport, green building certification), drawings, compliance with the norms (NBC) and other NoCs (Fire NoC, Sanction Plans, EC clearances, pollution control board, to name a few), review sufficiency of MEP equipment, parking numbers, etc.
- Colliers experts highlighted the potential issues that the site held, foreseeing the problems that may crop up later.
Findings:
The TDD report recorded all the deviations from the NoCs, norms, and technical specifications finalized for the project. It also included the findings on anomalies in the site survey extent based on the survey conducted independently by Colliers and liaison carried out by our team with the authorities. Calculations of the requirement of MEP equipment capacities, space availability at the site for DG sets, power enhancements, asset evaluation, and sharing a budget to complete were also discussed and concluded.
The client expressed fairness in the report, fact-findings, and the way forward in moving with acquiring the asset or not. Jatin Shah led the project and the team comprising MEP members and experts from various disciplines.
