The Role of the Net-ZeroJourneyCentreDataintheto
WRITTEN BY Frew Murdoch PROJECT DIRECTED BY Malvern Kandemwa 2 Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine
From rural beginnings to crown jewels
“It’s the big challenges that have always fascinat ed me,” said Huw. “I was born in a country at war, schooled in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). I’ve been a sub-unit police commander in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force where I later became a De tective Inspector. I qualified as lawyer and enjoyed a period trouble shooting globally as a litigator.
Working for the Asia Foundation in Cambodia ex perienced close up the last Khmer Rouge dry season offensive, I’ve also consulted with the UN on legal reform in Tajikistan – So by the time I began (what could be considered to be) my corporate career, dif ficult conversations and big challenges (some life and death situations) really were very much my norm. I’ve always favoured running towards the flames to solve problems, it’s where all that inter ests me lives, which has led to some challenging but remarkably rewarding roles – none more so, than the one I have today.”
At the time Huw was appointed, from the outside world, Ark was little more than a field of dreams.
Huw brought in several business associates he considered world-class, and together they be gan creating the company from the ground up. According to Huw, their starting strategy was simple: “At our very first meeting, I said to the team, why don’t we build the type of company that we’ve always wanted to work for and to this day, our commitment to that philosophy has been unrelenting.”
The Role of the
Business Enquirer Magazine · Issue 107 3
Two green rural sites with immense promise, but which also required a unique vision.
Huw Owen joined Ark in November 2012 as Chief Executive Officer to lead a new management team following the recapitalisation of the company. He has held key roles at a number of organisations, including BT Global Services and HP Defence & Security. Previous roles across a diverse career include Chief Executive of the Atlas Consortium, delivering the Ministry of Defence DII (Defence Information Infrastructure) programme.
ArktotheCentreDatainJourneyNet-ZeroDataCentres
explains how businesses, people, and behaviour form a significant part of the answer to carbon reduction
To some, data centres may not be the most likely hero when tackling climate change but one glance behind the curtain at Ark Data Centres suggests that they could form an interesting part of the solution.
Ark Data Centres
“We understand the responsibility that comes with being the trusted partner of the UK Government and we’re delighted that it has also attracted some of the most innovative organisations from the pri vate sector. We know precisely the role we play in the critical running of their business, how we help achieve their sustainability objectives and we take that accountability very seriously.
“Any Public Sector Organisation can report up to 75% on electricity and a 99% carbon reduction on relocated services from the day that they move into one of our facilities,” said Huw. “For the Private sector and in particular the hyperscalers who have set remarkably ambitious green goals, there is noone better placed in the UK to help them achieve their sustainability objectives.”
When asked about the company’s success, how ever, Huw did not attribute it to strategy. He instead emphasised people, culture, and Ark’s leadership philosophy: “I believe in visible model leadership. I expect my leadership team to be visible and to model the be haviors that we expect from our people. That means that if I am lazy, uncaring, and uncommitted, you have my full permission to do anything that I show. But equally, if day-in-day-out I come in with a committed mindset and the best for Ark’s employ ees in mind, then I expect you to do the same.”
For an industry that is known to be power hun gry, data centres may first appear to be unlikely candidates to form part of the answer for carbon reduction, yet there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Sustainability: Scoping ahead Data Centres form the very heartbeat of the dig ital world, but for every email sent, social post shared, photo taken from a phone, a carbon foot print is created, which means the very facilities created to take care of this data have the potential to form either part of the climate change chal lenge or a meaningful part of the solution.
“When Ark secured the Crown Hosting contract, we were asked to create savings of £105 million, and to date, we have delivered around £1.5 billion. In our first 4 years we took the equivalent of 140 000 cars off the road in carbon saving which is incredible,” stated Huw.
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The Sustainability conversation has undoubted ly enjoyed more deserved column inches in re cent years but for Ark, sustainability has been at the centre of its endeavours since day one.
Ark’s approach and philosophy has led to phe nomenal success in the UK attracting some of the all largest Hyperscalers in the world and in 2014, was awarded the Crown Hosting contract, a joint venture with the Cabinet Office which po sitions them as the data centre partner of choice for the UK Government.
“We have an exemplary culture at Ark, which is born of people having the right skills, the right experience, and the right qualifications. But, ulti mately, having the correct mindset that they bring to work every day. That is what has caused our suc cess,” assured Huw.
“Back when I joined, we had the likes of Pip Squire in our team. A highly-intelligent and vastly expe rienced engineer, Pip has been at the heart of Ark since the beginning. He’s always driven electric cars, demanded electric charge points, and been a great advocate to keep all of us alive to our respon sibility towards the planet that we live on…
Ark Data Centres Since 2012, Ark has expanded their footprint from the original two sites to six market-lead ing facilities in highly sought-after locations across the UK, with a further site opening up in Europe before the end of the year. Since its in ception, Ark has become well-known to many for its commitment to sustainability and oper ational excellence, striving to be, as Huw puts it, “that quiet, discreet, can-do, will-do partner of choice which leads the market by example in social responsibility.”
Tech Feature Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine 5
Gratte Brothers Gratte Brothers is a third generation family company offering trusted, fully integrated engineering services for data centres which strive to lead the market in so cial Spanningresponsibility.arangeof responsibilities from design to in stallation as well as management and commissio ning, we have over 28 years’ experience delivering data centres with resilient engineering, from plant replacements to 50 MW installations. We are therefo re uniquely placed to provide end-to-end solutions for our clients though principal contractor, framework, al liance and service partner appointments and our deli very encompasses a collaborative, proactive approach to the challenges presented by a project. The quality of our delivery is the result of our direct ly-employed installation technicians and managers and our specialist supply chain which shares our pas sion for safety and outstanding delivery. Our ethos is simple – build long-term relationships with clients who share our values and consistently de liver the excellence required to meet individual needs and exceed expectations. We’ve been one of Ark’s Service Partners for over a decade and being an integral part of their ecosystem, which is committed to sustai nability, has been the perfect opportunity to showcase our commitment to engineering solutions with low energy Innovationconsumption.frompre-construction through to handover in terms of product and digitalisation of systems, of fers opportunities to deliver optimal value for our cli ents and our 23,000sq ft. of prefabrication facilities allows us to additionally maximise site solutions and secure critical programmes. At Gratte Brothers, continual improvement is funda mental as we strive to enhance our processes and ul timately our delivery. www.gratte.com
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Ark Data Centres
With many businesses focused on understand ing and reducing their Scope 1 and 2 emissions, Ark has begun to proactively address its Scope 3 challenges head-on and recently took to the stage at the Sustainability Live conference in London to discuss the importance of individ ual behaviour to address the impact of climate change.
“We have an enormous responsibility to collabo rate with our employees, partners, and customers
“We come to work and challenge ourselves and at the most basic level, we know that by hitting our own sustainability objectives, we empower our customers to achieve their own – Everyone wins, including the planet.
“We’ve been 100% clean energy since 2015. We have a passion and commitment to encourage bio diversity, with badger runs, bat runs, beehives, and living walls. We have green offset areas for wildlife, our sites are mostly surrounded by trees and have recently transitioned to HVO fuels in the unlikely event that back-up generation is required.
Engineering Specialists in Mission Critical Systems
And as a result as it stands today, we are already very advanced in contrast to many organisations in terms of social responsibility - while many are still working to understand their Scope 1 and 2 emis sions, these are questions that we answered some time ago.
“Our rainwater harvesting technology means that after the first year of collection, we can run our facilities without impeding on local supplies for potable water, which is an area that every person and business should take very seriously - We even use ecological toilets, which always gets a smirk, but that’s hundreds of thousands of litres of water saved,” explained Huw.
G r a t t e B r o t h e r s o f f e r s a t r u s t e d , f u l l y i n t e g r a t e d s e r v i c e f o r d a t a c e n t r e i n f r a s t r u c t u r e w i t h r e s i l i e n t e n g i n e e r i n g W i t h o v e r 2 8 y e a r s o f e x p e r i e n c e d e s i g n i n g a n d b u i l d i n g h i g h q u a l i t y , e n e r g y e f f i c i e n t d a t a c e n t r e s t h a t s t r i v e t o l e a d t h e m a r k e t i n s o c i a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , w e ' v e b e e n o n e o f A r k ' s a l l i a n c e s e r v i c e p a r t n e r s f o r o v e r 1 0 y e a r s O u r i n h o u s e d e s i g n , p r e f a b r i c a t i o n a n d m a i n t e n a n c e s e r v i c e s m e a n w e c a n d e l i v e r a u n i q u e e n d t o e n d s o l u t i o n 30+ MW delivered annually since 2017 Certified to ISO 45001 info@gratte 0com 20 7837 w6433 ww gratte com Delivering service excellence for over 75 years 28+ years of experience working in data centres
Ark Data Centres to understand what we can do on an individual lev el, if we’re really going to meaningfully tackle our Scope 3 emissions,” said Huw. “We all create data, the question is, do we need to keep all of our data for all time and what behaviours can we employ to reduce our impact on the planet?” Ark is even taking the bold step to encourage its customers to travel less when evaluating a data centre by leveraging virtual technology to se curely tour its facilities. The team has also begun reviewing operational data collected for both the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods to make an informed assessment as to what post-pandemic behaviours may start to look like - for example how many employees will continue to commute to the office, how often, and in what form of transport. “It’s like most things in life; it begins with you. Do your bit and when you have that locked in, then you have bought the right to tell others to do theirs. There seems to be a lot of broadcasting and green washing going on. My question to you is what are you doing? That’s the question we ask ourselves every day and we try to get better every day” ended Huw.
8www.arkdatacentres.co.uk
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Tech Feature Issue 107 · Business Enquirer Magazine 9
www.arkdatacentres.co.uk
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Ark Data Centres
