The project phase is where the risk is highest, and where the discipline is most often underestimated.
The final months of a build carry the greatest risk
The final three to four months before handover are the most critical window in any data centre programme. Electrical, HVAC, civil, plumbing and multiple OEM teams are all working to close overlapping scopes. Movement is at its peak, dust generation is at its peak, and small items like cable ties and insulation offcuts are routinely left behind when cleaning is not engineered into the programme.
“During this phase cleaning has to be maintained because dust levels from the ongoing work are high and people movement is at its peak. If this phase is not managed properly, in the long run it impacts the life of every asset inside, whether it is engineering or IT.” –Girish A Sharmaa
Contractors on site wear PPE for their own scope, not for contamination control. Cleanliness is not their core deliverable. That responsibility sits with the facilities management partner brought in specifically for the environment.
What happens when particle control is treated as an afterthought
The operational consequences of poor pre-commissioning cleaning are not visible on day one. They appear months later, at first shutdown or first maintenance cycle.
Dust settles on the internal components of switchgear and inside cooling systems. Cable ties, cable offcuts and insulation debris have been found inside electrical panels months after handover. On the cooling side, dust chokes filters, reduces return air, and forces the system to consume more power to deliver the same cooling output.
“This directly impacts the life of the asset. Dust on filters chokes return air into the air conditioning system, which pushes up power consumption to maintain the same cooling output.” – Girish A Sharmaa
The cost is not only energy. It is asset life, warranty risk, and unplanned downtime inside a facility whose entire value proposition is uptime.
ISO 14644 is now the baseline, not the aspiration
The most visible shift over the last five years is the arrival of ISO 14644 as a working standard on Indian sites, rather than a reference on a slide.
“Two years ago not every data centre used to specify project cleaning in line with ISO 14644. Today it is part of the tender, both from the colocation operators and from the general and MEP contractors.” – Girish A Sharmaa
Class 8 compliance is now expected across the white space, the utility rooms, and the passage areas connecting them. Sites are controlling ingress with shoe covers, anti-dust pads, air curtains and restricted movement zones. HEPA filters are used for the cleaning of installed but not yet live equipment, and hyperscaler customers are visiting sites in person to see how the environment is being maintained through the build.
“Pre-commissioning cleaning begins after the project has been handed over with all MEP duly tested and commissioned. Standard FM cleaning is what happens day to day inside a live data centre. One is project phase. The other is live operation.” – Girish A Sharmaa, Senior Vice President, Data Centre Solutions, OCS Group India
India’s data centre market is one of the fastest growing in the world, shaped by hyperscaler demand and global colocation investment. Behind the racks, cooling systems and power trains, one discipline has moved from support activity to engineering priority: pre-commissioning cleaning.
In this conversation, Girish A Sharmaa, Senior Vice President, Data Centre Solutions, OCS Group India, explains why the last stretch of a build programme decides the operating life of every asset inside it.
Two different disciplines: Project cleaning and Live cleaning
To anyone outside the industry, cleaning a data centre sounds like a single activity. In practice, it is two very different disciplines.
The engineering view: 3 non-negotiables
From an engineering standpoint, three points matter most during a data centre build:
- Dust-free environment. Whenever engineering equipment is installed, the surrounding environment must already be as dust-free as possible. Cleaning is not a follow-up activity; it runs in parallel with installation to ensure optimal conditions from the start.
- Hygiene of the workforce. Even with masks and PPE in place, the ambient dust level ultimately determines how much particulate reaches the equipment and the people working around it. Maintaining a clean environment is therefore essential to safeguard both assets and personnel.
- Standards-driven verification. Class 8 environments, HEPA-based internal cleaning of installed equipment, and documented protocols before Integrated System Testing begins.
What data center operators still get wrong at the specification stage?
General contractors and MEP contractors are usually the first teams on the ground, and they are now including contamination control at the bidding stage itself, which is a positive shift from even three years ago.
“If you compromise on cleaning at this stage, it is a major issue. If you do not, it is not.” – Girish A Sharmaa
The questions data centre operators should be asking their cleaning partners at specification stage are straightforward, but rarely asked:
- Which ISO 14644 class is the environment being cleaned to, and how is it being verified?
- What is the protocol for cleaning installed but not yet live equipment from the inside?
- How is dust ingress being controlled during peak overlap of trades?
- What documentation is provided before Integrated System Testing begins?
The road ahead
India’s hyperscale build pipeline is expanding rapidly, and global operators entering the market are bringing their global standards with them. OCS Group India has been supporting data centre environments across the country for 12 years, covering more than 95 sites and 1,352 MW of managed capacity, with 100% uptime maintained across customer portfolios.
“Cleaning was always there. Today I can say very firmly that cleaning is one of the most critical parts of a data centre project.” – Girish A Sharmaa
As India’s data centre growth elevates, the operators, contractors, and FM partners who embed contamination control from day one will define the next decade of digital infrastructure. Clean builds mean longer asset life, stronger uptime, and greater confidence for every stakeholder. The foundation is set, and the future looks remarkably promising.
