Global Switch gets reprieve in delayed Sydney data centre build

Global Switch has been given permission to perform internal fit-out on stage two of its Sydney East data centre until midnight six days a week in a bid to overcome project delays.

The $300 million facility is being built in three roughly similar stages.

While stage one opened in August 2014, the data centre operator indicated last December that the remaining “completion program and tenant fitout project milestones [were] at risk” due to “extremely slow” progress on the in-ground foundations for the two remaining stages.

Builders said they had encountered sandstone that had proven hard to break.

Global Switch sought and was late yesterday granted an extension of the times it is allowed to perform internal fit-out works on the second stage build.

Authorities regulating works at the site agreed that the extended times – until midnight six days a week, instead of 5.30pm weekdays and 3.30pm Saturday – would help “facilitate the timely completion of the project”.

They acknowledged that “the construction program for the project is running behind schedule” and that Global Switch had “recently been exploring options” – including the longer construction hours - to get it back on track.

The internal fit-out works to be completed include the installation and commissioning of services, the ceilings and the access floor, and cosmetic finishes.

Sydney East is directly adjacent to the main Global Switch data centre on Harris Street in Ultimo.