The Hartford Data Center Expansion
The Hartford, a leader in property and casualty insurance, group benefits, and mutual funds based in Hartford, CT, continues to grow even after 200+ years in business. Their existing data center did not have sufficient capacity to support the company’s growth.
Fuss & O’Neill was hired to develop a solution that included both new space through an addition and reallocation of existing space through renovation. Our structural engineers provided design services for a new 40,000 square-foot, four-story addition to the existing data center and for renovations to the existing 100,000 square-foot data center.
The footprint of the building addition is significant in relation to the overall available space on the site and its proximity to the existing building. Having experience in the area and knowing that the soil conditions in this part of Hartford are not favorable for heavily loaded, multi-story construction, Fuss & O’Neill brought a specialized geotechnical engineering partner onboard early in the design process to assist with developing a creative deep foundation system that would minimally disrupt adjacent occupants working in the existing building and also limit excavation as there was little room to store the excess material on site.
We strategically developed economical framing and foundation systems to meet stringent design requirements for the project, which included a floor live load capacity of 400 psf. Additionally, our structural engineers evaluated existing concrete waffle slab floor systems within the existing data center to determine if they could support new vibration-sensitive mechanical equipment. We designed unique strengthening measures where required.
Considering our client’s future needs and possible future expansion, we included additional equipment expansion into the layout and design of the addition and renovation to ensure that minimal additional capital expenditures would be needed in the future to accommodate further growth.
Our team provided continuous support during the billing and construction phases. Additionally, we responded to bidder and contractor questions, provided clarifications, and reviewed submittals.
As data center operations are critical to The Hartford and could not be interrupted for this significant capital improvement project, our design included a unique and sophisticated phased approach to construction that maintained data center operations throughout the duration of construction.
