Equipment rooms and electrical plant rooms are a distinct segment from hyperscale or enterprise data halls. The rooms are often smaller, sit inside a headquarters, plant, transit or industrial facility, and still need a load-bearing, accessible floor for switchgear, servers, control desks and cabling.
Typical spaces include IT and server rooms in office or campus buildings, electrical plant and control rooms in power stations, telecoms and switching centres, and facility control rooms. Static control and a durable, cleanable finish are often required alongside access to the void.
Rhino’s official Datacenter Project Reference list currently mixes these rooms with true data centers; this page separates them so the difference is clear.
Where raised access floors are used
- IT rooms and server rooms inside office or campus buildings.
- Electrical plant rooms and control rooms in power stations and process plants.
- Telecoms, switching and facility control centers that need static control and cable access.
- Control and communications rooms in transit, energy and industrial projects.
- Technical rooms whose published project title does not describe a data hall, but which still need a raised access floor.
Standards often specified
- Structural performance is commonly specified to EN 12825, or to CISCA test procedures on North American projects. These rooms are often written at a heavier grade than general offices.
- Reaction to fire follows EN 13501-1; fire resistance, where required, follows EN 13501-2. Plant and electrical rooms may also have to meet the fire strategy of the host building.
- Where static control is required for switching centres or facility control rooms, IEC 61340-5-1 or ANSI/ESD S20.20 is commonly referenced, together with a conductive or dissipative wearing surface.
- Electrical outlets, floor boxes and earthing must follow the electrical standards of the project country, in addition to the floor-system standard.
These are frameworks commonly written into a specification in this market. They are not a claim that a particular Rhino product is certified to every standard listed. Check the Technical Specs on each recommended Models page, and confirm the required tests with the project specification.
