Quick answer

What is data centre decommissioning?

Data centre decommissioning is the planned removal, recording, sanitisation, resale, recycling or destruction of servers, storage, network devices, racks and supporting infrastructure. Each asset is tracked through chain of custody to a documented final disposition, closing with a full audit pack.

UK Data Centre Decommissioning

Decommission your data centre without disrupting the business.

Site survey to handover. Live-site safe. Fully UK-compliant. We retire racks, recover value and restore the floor: phased, accelerated or selective, with one team end to end.

ISO 27001 F-Gas Registered WEEE Compliant Live-Site Capable
Your Close-Out Pack
Audit-ready

Every decommission ends with a complete documentation pack you can share directly with auditors, your board, the landlord or the ICO.

Full Asset Inventory

Make, model, serial and disposition for every removed asset

Per-Device Destruction Certificates

Serial-numbered, signed, NIST 800-88 aligned

WEEE & Hazardous Waste Notes

Consignment notes, F-Gas refrigerant recovery, recycling certificates

Before & After Photo Pack

Rack-level photography plus restored facility handover shots

Download a sample close-out pack

Why UK and European operators choose us

Built for live-site, regulated environments

ISO 27001 Certified

Independently audited information security covering every step of the chain of custody.

CSCS-Carded Engineers

Site-safety qualified, DBS-checked engineers experienced in live data centre environments.

Zero Landfill Promise

F-Gas, WEEE, and Hazardous Waste compliant disposal across every component.

Live-Site Capable

Decommission alongside running workloads with no impact on production environments.

Three Programmes

Pick the programme that fits your deadline

Every project is bespoke, but most fall into one of three patterns. We help you pick on the first call.

Recommended

Best for production environments

Phased

Gradual, milestone-driven decommissioning over weeks or months. Non-critical systems first, critical workloads last, with rollback plans at every gate.

  • Aligned to your maintenance windows
  • Live-site safe
  • Detailed milestone plan

Best for lease deadlines

Accelerated

Rapid decommissioning completed in days, not months. Multiple parallel work streams to hit hard deadlines without compromising safety.

  • Same-week mobilisation
  • Multi-team parallel execution
  • Fixed completion date

Best for partial refreshes

Selective

Targeted decommissioning of specific racks, suites or kit while the rest of the facility stays operational. Ideal for tech refresh and partial cloud migrations.

  • Surgical, rack-level scope
  • No-touch zones honoured
  • Cabling and airflow preserved
Our Process

Six phases. One controlled shutdown.

Every step is gated, signed-off and documented before the next begins. No surprises, no missed risks.

1
Phase 1

Site Survey & Asset Discovery

On-site walk-through, full equipment inventory, dependency mapping and risk register. Output is a costed, milestone-led project plan.

2
Phase 2

Planning & Stakeholder Alignment

Method statement, RAMS, traffic management and security clearances. Sign-off from facilities, IT, security and landlord teams.

3
Phase 3

Mobilisation & Safety Setup

PPE, lifting equipment, ESD-safe trolleys, access control and tamper-evident seals deployed. Engineer briefings completed on day one.

4
Phase 4

Disconnection & Asset Removal

Power-down sequencing, cable removal, rack-level photography, asset tagging, secure crating and transport to processing facility.

5
Phase 5

Infrastructure & Environmental Strip-Out

CRAC/CRAH refrigerant recovery (F-Gas certified), UPS battery extraction, PDU and cable removal, fire suppression decommissioning.

6
Phase 6

Restoration & Documentation Pack

Floor reinstatement, deep clean and handover. Final audit pack, certificates of destruction and recycling, and value-recovery statement.

Decision Matrix

Phased vs Accelerated vs Selective

Compare the three programmes side-by-side and pick the one that fits your timeline and risk tolerance.

 PhasedRecommendedMost projectsAcceleratedSelective
Typical timeline6 to 24 weeks6 to 24 weeks3 to 14 days1 to 4 weeks
Suits live production
Multi-team parallel work
Rollback flexibility
Best for full closure
Best for partial refresh
Hard deadline pressure

Not sure which fits? Book a free site survey and we'll recommend on the first call.

What's Included

Everything you need, in one team

No subcontractor chains. No mid-project handovers. One project manager, one engineering crew, one close-out pack.

Site Survey & Discovery

Full inventory, dependency mapping and risk assessment before a single cable is unplugged.

Equipment Logistics

Custom crating, GPS-tracked transport and tamper-evident seals from rack to processing.

Certified Data Destruction

NIST 800-88 wiping, degaussing or shredding with per-device certificates and chain-of-custody.

Infrastructure Strip-Out

Racks, cooling, UPS, PDUs, cable trays and fire suppression professionally removed.

Environmental Compliance

F-Gas refrigerant recovery, hazardous waste consignment notes, WEEE certificates issued.

Value Recovery

Test, refurbish and remarket viable equipment with transparent revenue share.

Photographic Audit Trail

Before, during and after photography of every rack and serial-numbered asset.

Audit-Ready Documentation

Complete close-out pack ready to share with auditors, the ICO or your board.

Inside the Project

See exactly how we work

Disconnection

Disconnection

Cabling traced, photographed, and sequentially powered down by CSCS-carded engineers.

Secure Crating

Secure Crating

Foam-lined crates and tamper-evident seals for every asset that leaves your site.

Floor Restoration

Floor Restoration

Deep cleaned and reinstated, ready for landlord handover or new fit-out.

Industries We Serve

From trading floors to council estates

Financial Services

Regulated decommissioning of trading floors, colocation suites and disaster-recovery sites.

FCA-alignedWitnessed destructionAfter-hours work

Cloud Migration

Lift-and-shift retirement of on-prem racks alongside AWS, Azure and GCP migrations.

Phased to migration planWorkload-awareZero downtime

Mergers & Acquisitions

Rapid consolidation of duplicate estates after acquisitions, divestments or restructures.

NDA on every jobFast mobilisationConfidential close-out

Corporate & Public Sector

Multi-site enterprise estates, council facilities and government data centres across the UK and EU.

UK + EU coverageSingle point of contactAudit-ready pack
FAQ

Common decommissioning questions

Free Site Survey

Closing a data centre? Let's scope it together.

We'll walk the floor, build the inventory and give you a fixed plan, fixed price and fixed completion date, at no cost.

Same-week mobilisation · No obligation · UK + EU + Iceland coverage · Single point of contact