The Sky Is The Limit
LGT is an incubator for experience, knowledge, and success—just one of the many ways LGT is impacting the Quebec Engineering community. Soon, it sets it sights on the rest of the country.
LGT is an award-winning consulting engineering firm specialized and dedicated to the building industry whose influence is felt through the province of Quebec and beyond. Founded in 1998, LGT’s first foray into the world of critical infrastructure was with Telus, which is still a very active client for the company today. What started as a ten-person team, has grown to more than 90 employees, with significant growth in the past six years, with offices in the Greater Montreal area, Quebec City (head office), Rimouski and Sept-Îles.
LGT has distinguished itself amongst its peers through major achievements in Data Centers and Critical Infrastructure. In this booming sector, LGT has experience in electromechanical design (which requires no fault tolerance of the infrastructure), and which allows equipment to be maintained without disrupting operations.
Clients trust LGT for its strong consulting quality services adapted to their needs in the following areas: structure, civil engineering, mechanics, electricity, energy efficiency and Data Centers and Critical Infrastructure industry. Since its establishment, more than 4,000 mandates have been completed for more than 800 clients. In fact, LGT is well known for its collaborative approach with professionals and all stakeholders in the project.
“There are as many different projects as there are clients,” says Moïse Gagné, President. “We adapt our consulting-services to our clients’ needs without losing sight of the life cycle project. By mastering the implementation schedules and the financial objectives of our clients, LGT proposes ingenious concepts from every perspective. Our philosophy is clear: sky is the limit.’’
The LGT difference: Data Centers and Critical Infrastructure
LGT engineers are highly trained in Data Center and Critical Infrastructure, and their experience covers all types of clients and installation, including colocation, corporate, institutional, telecommunication, etc. LGT has designed, audited and commissioned several data center installation types, from small closet to hyperscale colocation center. It is also very familiar with high density rooms, as high as 380W/pi2. Within these projects, the team has developed a unique understanding of the different technologies available in the market, including static or rotary UPS, generator, mechanical and free cooling technology, high density design or medium voltage installation. LGT is working on the design of the biggest data center in Canada—capacity will be greater than 50 MW at full deployment.
With more than 500,000-square-feet of data center white space, and the design and auditing of more than 200 megawatts of IT load, LGT is a leader in the engineering consulting services, specifically regarding the planning, design of critical electromechanical systems, construction, commissioning, and the preventive maintenance of the critical systems.
Among the highest and specialized certifications in this field is TIA-942 Design Consultant and Accredited Tier Designer (ATD), and LGT is proud to count on engineers holding these certifications. ATD is accredited through the Uptime Institute, a worldwide advisory organization focused on improving the performance, efficiency, and reliability of business-critical infrastructure through innovation, collaboration, and independent certifications. Their experts possess deep background with the technical criteria required to reach an Uptime Institute certification.
“LGT is the most specialized engineering firm for data center and critical infrastructure in the province of Quebec,” says Gagné. “A highly specialized team of professionals in this field allows us to offer innovative counselling services to data center owners and managers. The goal is to optimize the security, reliability, efficiency, and cost of construction and operation without forgetting the total cost of ownership.”
Expertise
“LGT has carried out many different mandates in data center and critical infrastructure,” says Martin Boucher, associate and IT Vice President. Adding to the complexity of the data center world, some of these projects consisted of expansion or modernisation phases, which needed to be implemented without any interruption of the existing installation—and LGT is able to plan and execute successful work without any impact on IT equipment.
Integrated collaborators
Worldwide datacentre technology is not slowing down. The main issues for colocation data center owners are lead times for construction and the high cost of investment, while also minimizing their investment and operational costs in order to offer a competitive rate. The LGT team has a perfect understanding of these issues and works with the client and its partners in a ‘’design integration mode’’. This involves all stakeholders in the project, including the client, general contractor, specialized contractors and equipment suppliers to put their energy and knowledge to a common goal: building a data center at the lowest possible cost and on a fast-track schedule. All this, in conformity with standards set by the Uptime Institute.
Keeping the client engaged through the design phase ensures the project meets or exceed the client’s expectation in term of budget, quality and period of execution. With a strong data center construction experience, general contractors, specialized contractors, and electrical contractors can ensure that potential problems are identified upstream the construction phases, which eliminates construction delays. Over the years, LGT has carried out many projects based on this approach and this has contributed to the stellar reputation of the firm.
Reduced Energy Consumption
Of great pride to LGT is undoubtedly the head office of ‘’La Capitale MFQ’’ located in Quebec City. This great project is a perfect demonstration of the added value LGT can bring in an office construction project combined with a data center. Designed and built in fast track mode, this Class A office building has more than 330,000 square feet of ergonomic office space, and a 500 kW data center room. Actively participating in the integrated design groups, LGT has optimized the concept of heat rejection so the data center can fully meet the heating requirements of the entire building during the winter season. The power usage effectiveness (PUE) metric is the most popular method of calculating energy efficiency in a data center.
More precisely, PUE is a ratio of much energy a data center uses in contrast to energy required for cooling and support other auxiliary equipment. The annual average PUE calculated for this concept was 1.25. Considering that all energy generated by the data center is reused elsewhere in the building for heating, the energy reuse factor is close to 1. The overall energy-saving strategies implemented in this project have resulted in a reduction of more than 55 per cent in energy consumption compared to industry standards. This performance also led the building distinction to the prestigious LEED NC OR certification.
What’s Next
The team will continue to look out for more development opportunities, and has plans to continue growing—with a goal of 140 employees and a Toronto office open by 2022. Even if LGT doesn’t currently have offices outside of Quebec, this doesn’t preclude Ontario clients to use their services. ‘’Our reputation already resonates in Ontario. Opportunities are presented to us and we will seize every single of occasions,’’ says Gagné. ‘’Our commercial network is strong in Quebec. It’s time to increase our development in other parts of Canada.’’
