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Sector

Data centre flooring.

Ground-bearing and suspended concrete slabs installed to the strict strength and flatness grades data centre fit-outs demand.

The work

Floors engineered to the grade, every time

Data centre floors carry heavy, sensitive equipment and must meet tight flatness and strength specifications with full documentation. The floor is poured early and lives for decades under equipment that nobody wants to re-level around.

We set out, pour and finish to the specified grade and evidence the result, working to the programme and security requirements of the site. Our own crews, our own plant, no subcontracted finishing.

Proof, not promises. On this sector more than any other, the survey pack is part of the product.

On site

Built around your operation, not against it.

We plan the method, phasing and plant so work continues around us and the floor goes down right first time.

The specification

Why data centre floors are specified harder than warehouses

Three differences drive the specification, and estimators pricing a data hall against a warehouse should know them. There is a fourth point that is our argument rather than the industry's: data centre clients increasingly want a specialist flooring subcontractor on this work, because the knowledge, the plant, the crew and the timing of the finish decide whether the tolerance holds. That is what we are.

  • The tolerance is tighter and the reason is different. In a warehouse, flatness serves material handling equipment. In a data hall it serves rack alignment, raised access flooring pedestals and the long-term stability of equipment that will never be moved. Data centre projects routinely reach for the tightest classifications available.
  • The floor has to stay right for decades. Slabs are engineered for high, concentrated loads from racks and cooling plant while holding dimensional stability over a very long service life. Cracking, curling and joint deterioration are not maintenance items here, they are operational risks.
  • The documentation is contractual. An independent post-construction flatness survey is normal, and compliance is assessed against the classification in the contract. The survey pack is what gets signed off, not the visual appearance.
TR34
Built and surveyed to the class specified
100%
Self-delivered
95th
Percentile on which compliance is assessed

Standards and tolerances

Concrete floor flatness in the UK is normally specified to the Concrete Society's Technical Report 34, currently in its 4th edition. Property E controls levelness, measured between fixed points 3m apart on a grid. Property F controls flatness, the change in elevational difference between two consecutive measurements each over 300mm. Data centre projects usually reach for the tightest classifications, and we build and survey to the class specified.

Data centre specifications also draw on other standards depending on the client and the designer, including DIN 18202, EN 15620 for racking, and BS 8204-2 where a screed or topping is involved. Where the specification names one we work to it, and where it names more than one we will tell you at tender if they conflict, which they sometimes do.

Suspended floors carry an extra complication. Upper-floor slabs experience dead and live load deflection, which affects whether a tolerance measured at construction is the tolerance the client has in service. Worth resolving in design rather than in dispute.

Scoping

The decision you are actually making

Ground-bearing or suspended?

A tolerance held on the ground is not automatically a tolerance held on a deck under load. Does the tolerance survive deflection?

Which standard governs, and who surveys?

Independent post-construction survey is the norm. Agree the surveyor, the method and the acceptance criteria before the pour, not after.

How does the slab meet the raised access floor?

Pedestal heights absorb some deviation and not others. The RAF installer's tolerance and the slab tolerance need reconciling in design.

What is the joint strategy?

Joints under racks and in cooling aisles are a long-term problem. Layout should follow the equipment plan where the plan exists.

What are the security and access constraints?

Vetting, escorted access, restricted delivery windows and controlled documentation all affect the programme and the price. They should be in the tender, not discovered.

Abrasion and maintenance traffic

Data halls are not high-traffic floors, but installation and maintenance traffic is real and the surface has to take it without dusting.

Systems

What we install for this sector

Service

Power floated floors

The structural slab and its finished surface in one operation.

Read moreService

Large pour & laser screed

Laser-guided placing, the practical route to a tight classification held across a big floor plate.

Read moreService

Screeds

Levelling layers and toppings over structural decks, including flowing and self-compacting systems on suspended floors.

Read more
Finished floor placed by Trent across a steel-frame upper deck

Capability

Plant and crews, self-delivered

Our own operatives and plant, start to finish: a Somero S22EZ laser screed for large-area placing, ride-on and walk-behind power floats, our own concrete line pumps, and our own track-mounted placing booms, rare kit in this country. Data centre floors are not all at ground level, and the booms deliver concrete to plant decks and upper halls without craning plant up.

Self-delivery is the reason the tolerance holds. On a tight classification the finish is decided in a short window by the operatives standing on the slab. A subcontracted finishing gang who have never worked with the placing gang will guess at that moment. Ours will not.

Delivery

Constraints handled

Live campuses, controlled sites and fixed commissioning dates are normal on this sector. We plan for them at tender, not on the day.

  • Security and vetting. Controlled-site documentation, vetting and access protocols. We do not publish clients or facilities where the site requires it. See secure and regulated environments.
  • Live and phased campuses. Estates expanded hall by hall around live operations, with strict separation between construction and operational areas.
  • Restricted delivery windows. Agreed routes, escorted deliveries and limited standing time. Planned into the method rather than absorbed on the day.
  • Fixed commissioning dates. We programme backwards from the finishing window and say at tender if the duration does not work.
  • Restricted access and height. Line pumps and placing booms where ready-mix cannot reach. See concrete pumping.

Proof

Evidence and documentation

  • Flatness survey against the specified classification, with results issued
  • Concrete cube results for compressive strength
  • Pour records: date, bay, area, volume, mix and conditions
  • Joint layout as constructed
  • Curing method and durations
  • RAMS issued and agreed before mobilisation, written to the site's security requirements
  • Sign-off pack at handover

Constructionline Gold registered. Avetta and SSIP accredited. Member of the Nuclear Industry Association.

FAQs

Common questions

What flatness grades do you achieve for data centre floors?
We finish to the flatness classification the specification requires and evidence it with survey and records. It is the tightest TR34 classes that data centre projects most often specify.
Can you install both ground-bearing and suspended slabs?
Yes, including on metal deck systems, to the strength and tolerance specified.
Who carries out the flatness survey?
Independent post-construction survey is normal on this sector and is what contractual compliance is judged on. Agree the surveyor and the acceptance criteria before the pour.
How does the slab tolerance work with raised access flooring?
Pedestals absorb some deviation but not all of it, and the RAF installer has their own tolerance. The two should be reconciled in design rather than on site.
Does deflection affect a suspended slab's tolerance?
It can. Upper-floor slabs deflect under dead and live load, so a tolerance measured at construction is not automatically the tolerance in service. Worth resolving in design.
Can you work to data centre security and access protocols?
Yes. We are experienced in controlled-site documentation, vetting and access requirements, and we do not publish clients or facilities where the site requires discretion.

Got a flooring or screed project coming up?

Send us the drawings and the specification, and we'll tell you straight whether we can deliver it, and how.

Discuss your project