Summary
- AVK is opening a Haydock facility for modular low-voltage and medium-voltage PowerPods used in data centre power infrastructure.
- The 140,000 sq ft site can house about 22 to 25 PowerPods at a time, depending on size, with most units up to 18 metres long and 4.2 metres wide.
- Factory-built power rooms aim to reduce on-site integration work as AI and hyperscale projects face switchgear, UPS, transformer, and commissioning constraints.
AVK is scaling modular electrical-room production at a 140,000 sq ft facility in Haydock, targeting the power infrastructure behind UK and European data centre builds.
The site will support production of low-voltage and medium-voltage PowerPods, AVK’s pre-engineered modular switchroom units for data centres. The company says the facility can house about 22 to 25 PowerPods at a time, depending on size, with most units expected to be up to 18 metres long and 4.2 metres wide.
PowerPods can be configured to include transformers, switchgear, batteries, UPS systems, circuit breakers, cooling integration, control panels, fire suppression, distribution boards, BMS, and SCADA systems. AVK sets out the technical approach in its PowerPods article.
The electrical room leaves site
Data centre delivery is increasingly constrained by the electrical chain. Grid capacity attracts attention, but the route from grid connection to usable IT load passes through switchgear, transformers, UPS equipment, batteries, controls, protection systems, cable containment, factory testing, site integration, and commissioning. If one of those elements slips, a data hall can miss its energisation window.
Factory-built power rooms shift some of that work into a controlled environment. AVK says the off-site process allows generator and PowerPod integration to be tested before delivery, reducing the amount of integration work required on site. That does not remove the need for site commissioning, but it can reduce clashes between trades and compress part of the on-site programme.
The supplier-agnostic approach is also part of the delivery model. Component lead times vary across switchgear, transformers, batteries, cooling units, and controls. A modular room that can be configured around available and preferred technologies gives developers and contractors more room to manage procurement risk, provided the final design remains coherent and maintainable.
Haydock gives AVK a manufacturing location with road access for large units and proximity to UK projects, while still serving European distribution. For data centre developers, the appeal is not only speed. Repeatable factory assembly can improve quality control, simplify documentation, and make testing more consistent across projects.
AI load pushes powertrain thinking
Higher-density AI facilities put more pressure on the powertrain. Electrical rooms must support staged growth, redundancy, maintenance isolation, heat loads from power equipment, protection coordination, and fast commissioning. They also need to integrate cleanly with backup generation, grid interfaces, and downstream distribution to racks that may draw far more power than earlier enterprise environments.
The shift to modular power rooms mirrors a wider move toward prefabrication in data centre delivery. Skids, plant modules, cooling packages, battery systems, and electrical rooms are all being pulled into factory environments where quality and schedule can be controlled more tightly. The model works best when design decisions are locked early and site conditions are well understood; it works less well when late changes, connection uncertainty, or mismatched interfaces force redesign.
AVK’s move also has a skills dimension. The company links the facility to skilled engineering roles, graduates, apprenticeships, and a partnership with St Helens College. The UK data centre market does not only need planning consent and capital. It needs electricians, controls engineers, commissioning specialists, mechanical engineers, power systems technicians, and enough manufacturing capacity to keep critical equipment moving.
Data centre capacity is often counted in megawatts, but those megawatts have to pass through engineered power rooms before they reach servers. Haydock adds capacity to one of the less visible parts of the delivery chain. In a market where speed-to-power can decide commercial value, factory-built electrical rooms are moving from a procurement option to a delivery strategy.
