ELEMA designed this cutting edge data centre which is located in the Ville-Marie borough in downtown Montreal in the block bound by Montfort, St-Jacques and de l’Inspecteur streets.  This project included the construction of a new 10-storey data hall structure that was directly adjacent to an existing four-storey building with a floor area of 1,780 m² (19,140 ft²) that was converted into office space.  A new two-storey electrical power station was added over the existing building.

The new tower includes a 5.4 m (18 ft) cantilever at its north end to prevent the building’s foundations from interfering with the Ville Marie Expressway tunnel located below the cantilever.

The new $70M complex provides a total floor area of 24,775 m² (266,671 ft²).

Technical challenges :

• Heavy floor design loads of up to 12 to 17 kPa (250 to 350 lbs/ft2).
• Construction of the building cantilevering over the Ville Marie Expressway access tunnel in coordination with the Ministère des Transports du Québec (MTQ).
• Construction of an electrical power station 15 m (48 ft) above an existing building.
• Seismic upgrading of the existing building.
• 5 m (16.4 ft) storey heights with a 10 m (32.8 ft) high upper storey.
• 9.2 m x 9.2 m (30 x 30 ft) spans.
• Floor consisting of concrete flat slabs using 300 mm (12 in.) drop panels.  

Notable solutions and innovations :

• North end of the building is cantilevered 5.4 m (18 ft) across the Ville-Marie tunnel, allowing the installation of 8 additional server bays. A bracing wall is supported on the cantilevered transfer at the SS1 level.
• Design of steel seismic connectors linking the new structure to the existing building, the floor elevations of which did not match.
• Construction of a 14.6 m (48 ft) clear height power plant above the existing building to allow delivery of the lower spaces of the building before completion of the upper floors

Press reviews :

• LES AFFAIRES - Nouveau centre de données de 70M$ à Montréal
• CONSTRUCTO - Le nouveau Centre de données de Montréal
• CONSTRUCTO - Harmoniser la modernité au cadre bâti