Why lift design matters in multi-storey data centres

Traditionally, data centres were located outside urban areas, where large sites allowed single-storey buildings and separate plant compounds. However, the increasing demand for digital infrastructure in cities, combined with limited development land and access to power and fibre networks, has driven the adoption of multi-storey data centre designs.  

Building upwards allows operators to maximise capacity on constrained sites, but it introduces new engineering challenges, which we have covered in a previous blog. With that in mind, vertical transportation plays a key role, as it directly affects how equipment is installed, maintained, and replaced throughout the life of the building. 

Despite this, the lift strategy is often considered late in the design process when building cores and servicing routes have already been defined. By considering lifts early in the design process, operators can avoid costly spatial constraints and ensure the facility can support equipment movement throughout its lifecycle.  

Why lifts are important with more floors

Lifts in data centres must support several types of movement throughout the building. These typically include:  

• The movement of people.  
• The movement of replacement and maintenance equipment.  
• The movement of IT equipment.  

The movement of IT equipment, specifically data racks, is the most demanding and often drives lift design requirements. Racks are usually assembled off-site and delivered in batches, oftentimes with 50 or more arriving together during commissioning. These units can weigh several thousand kilograms, stand over two metres tall, and often require mechanical handling equipment to install.  

Transporting the racks from loading areas to data halls, particularly those located on upper floors, creates a new engineering challenge. Lift car dimensions need to accommodate rack height and depth, while the load capacity must allow for heavier and dynamic loads. Other aspects like floor loading, stability, and levelling tolerance need to be considered so the equipment doesn’t tip during transport.  

This requirement isn't just during installation. Server hardware is typically refreshed every two to three years, so racks are moved relatively regularly. This spans the full lifecycle of the data centre, which can be decades.  

In addition to IT equipment, lifts often transport large mechanical and electrical components, such as transformers, switchgear, and plant equipment. These items can also weigh several tonnes, placing greater demand on the lift’s capacity.

Separating passenger and goods lift strategies

While it may seem efficient to install a single large lift that’s capable of transporting both people and equipment, this can actually lead to inefficiencies.  

Goods lifts are designed to transport the heavy racks and plant equipment we highlighted earlier and have capacities of several tonnes, with most hyperscalers specifying five tonnes minimum. Using these to lift a person is a huge waste and leads to long waiting times, inefficient energy use, and unnecessary wear on the lift itself.  

This separation becomes particularly important during commissioning or hardware refresh cycles, when large numbers of racks may need to be moved through the building within a short timeframe.  

Designing resilience into vertical transportation

Data centres are designed for continuous operation. Lift systems need to take that into account when they are being designed. Relying on a single lift, as highlighted, can introduce a single point of failure for equipment or for maintenance teams' access.  

Providing multiple different lifts helps ensure that operations can continue even if one lift is temporarily unavailable for maintenance or repair. This redundancy becomes important in multi-storey data centres where access to upper-level data halls depends entirely on lifts.  

Lift cores must also be coordinated with other vertical building systems. Staircases, fire-safety access, and other routes compete for space within the core, so early coordination among the multiple disciplines is essential.  

In repurposed buildings or constrained urban sites, these challenges can become even more pronounced. Existing structural grids or smaller shafts with restricted headroom can constrain lift design options. This further necessitates early involvement from a vertical transportation professional to resolve the issues before they become design limitations.  

As multi-storey data centres become more common in dense urban environments, many designs will need to adapt to accommodate verticality. When facilities are built upwards, lifts are no longer a convenience. In these buildings, taking the stairs is rarely a viable alternative.

To find out more, including how Cundall can help to design your data centre please get in touch.