Data Centre Decommissioning

Data Centre and Server Room Decommissioning in London

Redeploy decommissions server rooms, comms rooms and data centres in London, the M4 corridor and across the UK, with a second base serving Bournemouth & Poole. We disconnect and de-rack the kit, deal with every drive, resell what still has value and recycle the rest. You get a clear record of what left the building and what happened to it.

Much of our work is not in a purpose-built data hall. It is the server room on the fourth floor of an office, the comms cupboard behind reception, or a few racks in a colocation suite you are leaving. Whether you call it data centre or data center decommissioning, the job is the same: get the equipment out safely, on time, with the data dealt with.

Call 020 3822 0054 or Request a Quote.

What we decommission

Servers: rack-mount, blade chassis and tower servers.
Storage: SAN and NAS units, disk shelves and loose drives.
Networking: switches, routers, firewalls and patch panels. These hold configurations and passwords, so we treat them as data-bearing.
Racks and cabinets: emptied, dismantled where needed and removed.
Power: PDUs and UPS systems, including their batteries.
Cabling and containment: rack, under-floor and overhead cabling, trays and containment.
Cooling and room infrastructure: CRAC and air-con units, raised floors and fire suppression systems.
Everything else on the floor: desks, chairs, screens, AV and kitchen equipment, if the whole space is being handed back. See full office clearances.

How a decommission runs

1Tell us what you have. An asset list is ideal. A rack count and some photos are enough to start.
2Survey and quote. We offer a free site survey to check access, lifts, loading and parking. You get a written quote, with any value from resale set against the cost.
3Agree the plan. We agree dates, working hours and the order of work with your IT team, facilities and building management. We provide method statements and risk assessments (RAMS) for your facilities team and building management.
4Power-down and sign-off. Your team confirms which systems are switched off and which must stay live. We only touch kit that is labelled and agreed.
5Data first. Drives are wiped with approved data-erasure software, or standard hard drives are shredded on site. See below.
6De-rack and remove. Equipment is logged, de-racked, packed and loaded. Racks and cabling follow.
7Hand back. We leave the room clear and cleaned down. You get the waste transfer note on the day. Erasure reports follow once wiping is done.

Data security: erasure reports and on-site shredding

Under UK GDPR your organisation stays responsible for the data on a drive until it is destroyed. So we deal with data before kit is resold or recycled.

Wiping. Working drives, SSDs and other flash media are wiped with approved data-erasure software. You get an erasure report for every drive, listing its serial number and the result. Wiped equipment can then be reused or resold.
Shredding. We shred standard hard drives only. SSDs and flash media are always wiped. Standard hard drives that are faulty, fail a wipe, or fall under a "destroy" policy can be shredded on site, so they never leave your building intact. See hard drive shredding.
When. Wiping can be done the same day if you need it, or over about two weeks in step with the project. Erasure reports follow as each batch is done.
On site or off site. We can wipe at your premises. Or we collect the drives and wipe them at our facility in Christchurch, Dorset. They travel sealed and tracked, with a chain of custody record from your site to ours.

More detail is on our data destruction page.

The paperwork you get

There are two separate trails, and you need both.

Waste transfer note with every collection. This covers your duty of care for the equipment as waste.
Hazardous waste paperwork where it applies. UPS batteries and some other items are hazardous WEEE, so they move on the right paperwork, not a standard note.
Erasure reports for every wiped drive.
Certificate of destruction for hard drives we shred, listed by serial number.
Itemised asset list as standard. Every item is recorded with its serial number, along with what was resold or recycled.

Reuse and resale first

Enterprise hardware often has a second life. Working servers, switches and storage that are not very old can often be resold, and we will often pay for them. That value is set against the cost of the job, and sometimes covers it. Very old kit may have no value, and we will tell you that up front.

What cannot be reused is stripped and recycled. We strongly avoid landfill. See asset purchasing and sustainable redeployment.

Who we work with

IT teams finishing a cloud migration, companies leaving a colocation contract, facilities managers handing back a floor, and insolvency practitioners. We work with your IT, facilities and colocation teams so the work fits around what must stay live.

Lifts, loading bays and out-of-hours working

In London, access is usually the hardest part. Server rooms sit on upper floors, goods lifts are shared, and loading bays are booked by the hour.

We plan around that. We book lifts and bays with building management, work evenings and weekends by arrangement, and stage the work so the busiest part happens when the building is quiet.

As an example of the logistics, we cleared a 140-person office on the sixth floor of The Shard in one weekend. Only one goods lift was available. A six-person team spent Friday dismantling, then Saturday and Sunday taking everything down the lift and out, with seven lorry runs. IT, furniture, AV and the kitchen were all gone by Sunday night.

For insolvency practitioners

When a business fails, its server room is often the last thing anyone thinks about, and it may hold staff, customer and financial data. We can secure and wipe the drives, recover value from the hardware, keep the paperwork you need for your file, and clear the rest of the premises in the same job. See insolvency practitioners.

Areas covered

We work across London, from the City and Canary Wharf to Park Royal, where our London office is. We also cover Bournemouth & Poole.

For data centre and server room work we also travel further: Slough, Reading and the M4 corridor, and elsewhere in the UK. Tell us where the site is.

Before we arrive: a short checklist

An asset list, or a rack count with photos.
Confirmation of what is in scope and what stays live.
Who signs off power-down.
Your data policy: wipe, shred or both.
Building contacts for lift and loading bay bookings.
Your hand-back date.

Data centre decommissioning FAQs

What is data centre decommissioning?

It is the planned removal of IT equipment from a data centre, server room or comms room. That covers powering down, de-racking, dealing with every drive, reselling or recycling the hardware, and keeping records of each step.

Do you work in office server rooms as well as data centres?

Yes. Most of our work is server rooms and comms rooms in office buildings. We can also clear the rest of the floor in the same job, including desks, AV and kitchen equipment.

Can drives be dealt with before they leave our building?

Yes. We can wipe drives on site with approved data-erasure software, with an erasure report for every drive. Standard hard drives can also be shredded on site.

What paperwork will we get?

A waste transfer note with every collection, hazardous waste paperwork where needed (for example UPS batteries), an erasure report for every wiped drive, a certificate of destruction for any hard drives we shred, and an itemised asset list with serial numbers.

Can you work evenings and weekends?

Yes, by arrangement. We plan around your maintenance windows, goods lift bookings and loading bay slots.

How much does data center decommissioning cost?

There is no fixed price. It depends on the amount of kit, access and timing. Working equipment that is not very old often has resale value, and we will often pay for it, which reduces the cost and sometimes covers it.

Do you work outside London?

Yes. We take data centre and server room work in Slough, Reading, the M4 corridor and elsewhere in the UK, as well as London and Bournemouth & Poole.

Request a quote

Send us a rack count, an asset list or a few photos, and tell us your deadline. We will come back with a plan and a price.

Request a Quote

Call 020 3822 0054 · WhatsApp 07970 506813 · Request a Quote · hello@redeploy.eco