Equinix restricts access to Sydney DCs for safety's sake

Equinix has restricted access to its SY1 and SY2 data centres, which are located next to an apartment building that has been evacuated due to cracking.

Residents of most apartments at 1-5 Bourke St Mascot were last week told not to enter their properties last week after expert assessment of extensive cracking led to safety fears.

Engineers do not believe the building is in imminent danger, but have excluded residents as a precaution while remediation takes place.

And now the incident has impacted Equinix, which has two data centres adjacent to the residential complex as detailed in this video.

“Equinix is working with related authorities to understand the circumstances of the matter and provide support and assistance as appropriate,” the company said in a statement sent to CRN sibling publication iTnews.

“We have business resilience plans in place to ensure the safety of our people and customers. As per the advisory you’ve seen, we have communicated with our customers and will continue to keep them up to date should anything change.”

The advisory referred to in the statement was sent to Equinix tenants and says “access to SY1 & SY2 is only available via 639 Gardeners Road, as Church Avenue remains closed due to external precautionary measures.”

“As further information has become available, we can also share that these external matters are related to structural investigations with a building on the opposite side of Church Avenue, with a precautionary exclusion zone setup across the road of Church Avenue for investigations and restricted access.”

“Equinix SY1 & SY2 sits outside of the setup precautionary exclusion zone and pedestrian access continues to be permitted down Church Avenue, whilst both pedestrian and vehicle access remain available to SY1 and SY2 via 639 Gardeners Road.”

iTnews initially asked Equinix if the company had made any contingency plans given its facilities are adjacent to the damaged building.

The company replied with a statement to the effect that , “We can confirm that our Mascot and Alexandria facilities are not being impacted by any of the activity around the Mascot towers evacuation.

"All of our customers continue to receive uninterrupted services.”

We then learned of the communications with customers, which Equinix confirmed is genuine and then offered us the amended statement reported above.