Ericsson Canada

HH Angus served as Prime Consultant on Ericsson’s greenfield modular data centre testing facility in Montreal. This was one of three such sites for Ericsson oriented to telecommunications research and development; the first two in Sweden were operational in late 2014. 

As Prime Consultant, HH Angus engaged and oversaw the structural engineers, civil engineers and architect, as well as the noise, vibration and air quality consultants.

The Centre, in Vaudreuil-Dorion, was built with modularity and scalability in mind, and to serve as the global facilities’ data centre.

Situated close to the firm’s R & D Hubs, the new facility was intended to connect 24,000+ Ericsson engineers worldwide, provide greater efficiency in research and development, and allow customers to connect remotely for testing interoperability in real time - for trials, early access, and new business services.

The Quebec site totalled 40,000 m2, of which 20,000 m2 was built out. The project included a 3530 m2 administration and support building. The company estimated that the combination of architecture, design and location would result in a significant reduction of 40% in energy consumption. Heat recovery strategies were implemented, such as waste process heat used to warm the building. In addition, a rainwater harvesting system provided water for both irrigation and process cooling.

One of the key challenges met on this project was managing communications. Four nations were involved (Canada, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom), and the team was spread over seven time zones, from Phoenix to Stockholm. While English was the working language of the project team, subgroups within it were variously working in Swedish, French and English.