Quiet efficiency: The value of early acoustic consultancy in UK data centres

The UK government is prioritising planning reforms recognising data centres as critical national infrastructure and AI as a key economic growth strategy. London is Europe's largest data centre market, hosting 514 centres, and it is envisaged that data centre power consumption in the UK will increase six-fold within the next ten years.

Achieving these aims will require significantly expanding existing facilities and new gigawatt data centre campuses nationwide. However, noise pollution is a significant issue for data centres. The trend towards developing larger data centres with multiple noise-generating buildings in built-up urban areas already subject to high noise levels could lead to noise-induced health impacts on the local community unless careful planning and noise management strategies are embedded in the overall design.

To address these issues, we have implemented several strategies that minimise noise impact while enhancing efficiency.

Setting appropriate design noise limits

Establishing appropriate noise limits tailored to the environment and regulatory requirements is crucial. While data centres in other regions may operate according to fixed limits, assessment methodologies in the UK are based on prevailing noise levels at a specific receptor location, which will be influenced by a variety of sources such as road, rail, aircraft, and industrial noise, and can only be defined by extensive baseline noise surveying.

Early site selection tools do not often consider this, which means that a data centre design could comply with noise limits in one neighbourhood, but it is not guaranteed to comply with others.

Optimising site layouts

Optimising the site layout, utilising buildings to provide acoustic screening, and strategic placing of plant zones, will help to minimise noise impact on neighbouring properties and reduce later requirements for costly noise control measures.

For example, we recently assessed the feasibility of a 40MW data centre, reviewing different system approaches and plant configurations in close collaboration between the mechanical, electrical, and client teams. The proposed solutions addressed potential site concerns by the local planning authority of noise impacts on adjoining properties while providing efficient solutions delivering the required levels of resilience.

Assessing noise holistically

In our experience, assessing the accumulative noise impact of all sound sources within a campus needs to be considered holistically. For example, while a single data centre may be designed to marginally comply with noise-limiting criteria, then any expansion of a campus needs to be much quieter to avoid exceeding limits. However, this can invariably mean that envisaged capacity increases cannot be realised.

Cundall recently led a multi-disciplinary engineering design programme for a data centre campus in central London. We assessed various site configurations using acoustic modelling and Computational Fluid Dynamics to optimise the design for noise limits and balance acoustic performance with heat rejection. The findings led to the development of a canopy lid and reduced fan speed to prevent waste heat from recirculating back into the data centre once it had been expelled. This approach reduced cooling energy requirements and ensured compliance with noise regulations, supporting sustainable operations and reducing the ecological footprint while maintaining optimal acoustic performance.

Conclusion

Early involvement of acoustic consultants is imperative so that new data centres and digital campuses in busy urban areas can meet planning requirements and manage noise effectively without causing undue health effects. By properly establishing environmental noise constraints, optimising site layouts at the forefront of a project, and working collaboratively with all stakeholders, the viability of a project can be readily understood without compromising on mission-critical infrastructure.