Brendan Coffey , Associate Director of Operations for Leinster region at Kirby , looks at how the company builds excellence into Vodafone ’ s data centres .

With bases in Ireland , the UK , Europe and South Africa , Kirby Group Engineering is a leading mechanical and electrical engineering contractor , providing specialist services in the areas of data centres , life sciences , industrial , and power and renewables .

Brendan Coffey is Kirby ’ s Associate Director of Operations for the Leinster region , with a significant focus on data centres . One of Kirby ’ s first projects in this field was for the buildout within Vodafone ’ s Clonshaugh facility – 20 years ago in 2005 . This marked the beginning of a longstanding relationship between the two companies that continues today .

Kirby has worked on numerous projects at the Clonshaugh centre , including the extensive Resilience Upgrade Project to enhance the facility ’ s cooling systems and air conditioning , the refresh of CRAC units to enhance efficiency and reliability , and the construction of a Disaster Recovery Command Centre .

“ We ’ re an island , so we have a limited supply of power , which is why we do as much of our data centre construction work as possible off-site . It ’ s a far safer and more efficient way of working , it reduces travel emissions and eliminates the wait time for a building to be weather-proof before a project can begin ,” Brendan said .

Vodafone ’ s Clonshaugh data centre

Reflecting on the ongoing projects at Vodafone ’ s Clonshaugh data centre , Brendan said : “ Successful delivery of quality projects is a priority at Kirby , and we pride ourselves on listening to the needs of clients and responding accordingly . This has resulted in a mutually beneficial working relationship with the team at Vodafone , and one we look forward to continuing into the future .”

Embedding sustainability in data centres

The complex nature of data centre construction lends itself to off-site manufacturing where possible , and to this end , Kirby has responded to the growth and demand in this industry with the opening late last year of an OSM facility in Portlaoise .

Brendan Coffey Associate Director of Operations www . kirbygroup . com