Closing a site properly.
A successful decommissioning is measured on two things: nothing was interrupted by accident, and value left the site instead of being destroyed there.
Decommissioning a data center is the permanent shutdown and dismantling of a site or server room: orderly shutdown of loads, isolation of energy sources, removal of equipment, clearance and reinstatement of the rooms. Done well, it recovers value from the equipment removed rather than treating it as waste, and produces the traceability to prove it.
The order of operations decides everything
Decommissioning is not demolition. Equipment is interdependent, some of it still feeds loads believed to have been migrated, and documentation is almost always behind the reality of the site. Starting with removal is the surest way to cut something that is still live.
The order we apply is therefore the opposite of intuition: identify before shutting down, shut down before isolating, isolate before removing. Identification is the longest phase and the one that prevents incidents - it establishes what is actually powered, from where, and for whom.
The second issue is value. A closing site contains transformers, switchgear, switchboards, UPS units, chillers and generators whose usable value remains substantial. Removed carefully, they can be resold or redeployed; removed carelessly, they go for scrap. The gap between those outcomes is considerable, and it is decided during removal, not afterwards.
Traceability is not an extra
Removing equipment from a site carries obligations: regulated waste treatment, refrigerant handling, data erasure for anything that may have held data. You will be asked for proof of these, sometimes years later.
We therefore produce an inventory at removal and the associated exit file: destination of each item, waste transfer notes, refrigerant handling certificates, erasure certificates where applicable. That file is what turns a dismantling into a defensible operation.
Where this expertise applies
The data center packages this expertise covers are shown in full, the others are dimmed. Click a package for detail.
Medium-voltage switchgear distributes and protects; transformers step the voltage down to usable low voltage. These are very long-life assets, where reuse saves several quarters of lead time.
The main low-voltage switchboard distributes power to the halls and the utilities. This is where discrimination is decided: a fault must be cleared as close as possible without tripping anything upstream.
The uninterruptible supply holds the load until the backup starts. We requalify UPS units but always replace batteries with new: their ageing cannot be recovered.
The last line of backup, with its fuel tanks and bunding. A generator only counts once its load acceptance has been tested for real, several times - untested redundancy is a hypothesis.
Chillers and free cooling, producing the chilled water. In the French climate a large share of the year can be covered without compression - provided the loop accepts warm enough water.
Scope of a decommissioning
From the opening inventory to handover of the rooms, under a single chain of responsibility.
- Inventory and identification
- Recording equipment, its supplies and the loads actually served. Checked against existing documentation.
- Shutdown plan
- Load shutdown sequence, coordination with ongoing migrations, points of no return identified and approved.
- Energy isolation
- Electrical isolation, draining and recovery of fluids, making pressurised circuits safe.
- Equipment removal
- Careful, reuse-oriented removal: labelling, protection, packaging suited to transport and storage.
- Handling and clearance
- Lifting, removal from the building, transport. See our logistics and lifting expertise for oversized loads.
- Value recovery
- Choice between buy-back, return to stock for redeployment, and waste stream - item by item.
- Reinstatement and file
- Reinstatement of the rooms to the agreed condition, and handover of the complete exit file.
How a decommissioning runs
Six stages. The first takes the most time and prevents most of the incidents.
Audit and inventory
Site visit, surveys, identification of supplies and live loads. Production of the reference inventory.
Value assessment
Estimate of recoverable value per item, which drives how carefully things are removed and sometimes the schedule itself.
Shutdown plan and isolations
Detailed sequence, operational approvals, isolations and fluid recovery.
Removal
Removal in batches, labelled and packaged for reuse, with the inventory updated as work proceeds.
Clearance
Lifting, transport, entry into stock or routing to the chosen waste stream.
Closeout
Reinstatement of the rooms and handover of the file: final inventory, destinations, transfer notes and certificates.
Frequently asked questions
Do you buy the equipment you remove?
Yes, and it is a common arrangement: we buy all or part of the equipment removed, which is offset against the cost of the operation. Depending on the case, a decommissioning can therefore cost appreciably less than expected. Pricing follows the inventory, based on the actual usable value of the equipment.
How long does decommissioning a room take?
The dismantling itself is rarely the long item. What drives the schedule is identification and waiting for load migrations, which depend on your teams and your customers. On sites where documentation is incomplete - that is, most of them - identification routinely accounts for half the total duration.
What happens to the data?
Any equipment that may have held data is subject to documented erasure or destruction, with a certificate. We treat this as a compliance requirement rather than an option: it is the document you will be asked for in an audit.
Do you handle refrigerants?
Yes, recovery and treatment of refrigerants is part of the operation, with the corresponding regulatory certificates. It is an area where failings are both easy to commit and serious in consequence, so it is addressed explicitly in the exit file.
Who are you, exactly?
Three very different people land on these pages. Take the door that fits you.
- You areA data center operator or builderYou have works to get done, on a greenfield site or one in service: electrical, cooling, retrofit, decommissioning.Talk about works
- You areLooking for capacity in FranceAI operator, hyperscaler or enterprise: you need megawatts, a convertible site and a contractor able to deliver them. We are a contractor on 240 MW at Béthune.Talk capacity and sites
- You areThe owner of land or a buildingAn industrial brownfield, a warehouse, a dormant grid connection: we tell you what your site can host, before you commit spend.Have a site qualified