Prefabricated White Space Module Time Study: Lessons from a High-Density Liquid-Cooled Deployment

Overview

The study compares the same kind of high-density liquid-cooled white space built two ways: traditional stick-built installation, and a factory-built pod that integrates structural frame, busway, TCS piping, containment and cable shelving. The pod covers about 1,000 ft2 (93 m2), up to 42 rack positions and 1.2 MW of IT load, averaging about 29 kW per rack. The time study was carried out with a colocation operator.

Measured on-site installation took 75.5 hours per pod traditionally against 15 hours prefabricated, an 80% reduction. The traditional breakdown was TCS piping 37 hours, busway 13 hours, cable shelving 5 hours and pod/containment assembly 17.25 hours. The prefabricated approach removes the first three from the site entirely. In total, 60.5 hours of field work per pod move into the factory, which is the entire gap between the two methods, and 50 of those hours come from piping and busway.

The paper also reports a learning curve: earlier pods took 18 hours on site against 15 hours for later ones, a 17% improvement. The authors recall that a prior Schneider analysis found about 30% lower TCO for prefabricated deployments and argue that prefabrication shortens time-to-compute for AI capacity. The limit is that the result rests on hour measurements from a single deployment, and the cost comparison is the cited earlier analysis rather than a measurement here. It is still directly usable for schedule planning because it shows exactly which work items disappear from the site.

Key points

1. On-site installation per pod: 75.5 h traditional versus 15 h prefabricated (80% reduction).
2. Pod scope: about 1,000 ft2 (93 m2), up to 42 rack positions, 1.2 MW IT, about 29 kW per rack average.
3. Traditional breakdown: TCS piping 37 h, busway 13 h, cable shelving 5 h, pod/containment assembly 17.25 h.
4. Prefabrication removes piping, busway and shelving installation from the site.
5. Learning curve: earlier pods 18 h on site versus 15 h later, a 17% improvement.
6. A prior Schneider analysis is cited for about 30% lower TCO for prefabricated deployments.

Using it in design

• Offer a 'prefabricated IT pod' option in the white-space designer, with catalog defaults 1.2 MW, 42 racks, 93 m2.
• In the schedule estimator use about 15 h of on-site labour per pod for prefab versus 75.5 h for stick-built.
• Show the TCS manifold, busway and shelving as one assembly in the BOM.
• In multi-pod rollouts, reflect the roughly 17% learning gain between early and later pods in the schedule.

Who should read it

Colocation operators, project managers and white-space designers who need high-density liquid-cooled capacity commissioned quickly.

Related standards

• ASHRAE TC9.9 Liquid Cooling Guidelines
• OCP Open Rack

Publication details

Authors

Wendy Torell; Melissa Rodriguez; Eric Williams

Publisher

Schneider Electric

Year

2026

Document number

WP 238

Document language

English

Source type

Manufacturer

Access

Free to read

Licence

Copyright retained; citation only — the publisher’s terms apply to the original document

Citation