Member Article

Upnorth celebrates multi-million Virgin deal

A local heating, ventilation and air conditioning business are celebrating after landing a multi-million pound deal with nationwide internet provider, Virgin Media.

Upnorth Group have been hired by Virgin to carry our power and cooling assessments across 700 Virgin Media sites across the UK. By assessing energy performance, Upnorth will be able to effectively replace critical power and cooling systems to improve energy use and CO2 emissions.

Upnorth Group managing director Stewart Grierson commented: “Winning a three year contract with Virgin Media is a significant win for Upnorth Group and will see us increase our workforce to 74 staff, which is good news in creating 20 quality jobs in such a challenging environment.”

The firm have already commenced work on Virgin data centres in Merseyside, and are using indirect chilled water technology to provide low ambient free cooling for more than 60% of the year.

Mr Grierson continued: “ By installing this cooling technology, the company will see energy reduced by 70% and will benefit the client with an annual electric power saving of more than £100,000 per year for the sites in Merseyside alone.“

Upnorth Group specialise in computer room air-conditioning, and will now assess heat gains and cooling services as part of the Project BRAG growth assessment for Virgin media.

Head of Virgin Media heating, ventilation and air conditioning facilities Martin Waite said: “Upnorth Group has worked very closely with us to help us understand the benefits of hot and cold aisle thermal containment.

“The Group’s dedicated employees and management team have put Virgin Media’s data centre on a solid footing and have already saved the company a substantial financial amount.

“Knowing Upnorth Group is now part of the family for the next three years is a real bonus to the Virgin Media team.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .