Data Centre Metalwork in Johor: Platforms, Frames and Housings

News about data centres in Johor is usually measured in megawatts of power and acres of land. The photographs show clean white halls with rows of server cabinets. But before the cabinets arrive, the building needs a great deal of ordinary metalwork: platforms over cable routes, frames for heavy equipment, and housings around pumps and valves.

That metalwork is a fabrication job, and it is quite different from the electronics it supports. Much of it may be painted or galvanised mild steel. Stainless steel is used where a surface will be seen, washed, or exposed to coastal air.

What metalwork a data centre needs

In early September 2026, YTL Power and JLand announced a large data centre campus at Sedenak Tech Park West in Johor. The first plot of land was about 145 acres, with an option to take more, in addition to the capacity YTL already has under construction at Kulai. Campuses like this are being built on the Malaysian side of the causeway because Singapore has the demand for data centres, but less land and power to build them.

We have no connection with YTL Power or JLand. We mention the announcement only as an example.

A news story like this does not tell you who will make the metalwork. To find that, walk through the mechanical areas of the building rather than the server halls. There are access platforms and the handrails that stop people falling from them. There are frames that carry pumps or cooling coils, because the concrete floor was not designed to take that weight directly. There are housings and guards around equipment that maintenance staff must be able to reach. And there are supports wherever a cable tray meets a beam, a duct or a column.

The material is a separate decision for each part. Painted or galvanised mild steel is common for platforms and hidden frames. Stainless steel is chosen for a surface that people will see, a room that is washed, or equipment outside in coastal air. A handrail in a dry corridor does not need to be stainless steel just because it is in a data centre. So please tell us where each part will be used.

If the equipment is outdoors near the coast, the grade choice is explained in Choosing Stainless Steel for Marine and Coastal Environments: 316 vs Duplex 2205. If the client will see the finished surface, see Stainless Steel for Visible Architectural Metalwork.

Who writes the specification

On a semiconductor project, there is often a written finish specification, and one person is responsible for approving the first part. A data centre project is usually organised differently. The operator buys power capacity. The main contractor builds the building. The mechanical contractor, or a fit-out company working for them, specifies the metalwork as openings, loads and dates.

That specification often arrives late, because it is written after the equipment has been measured on site rather than taken from the computer model. When it goes wrong, it usually goes wrong in simple ways. The drawing shows a platform at the right height but does not show the beam the platform must avoid. The load is described as "equipment" rather than a number of kilograms. The finish is described as "galvanised or painted, to match site", which could mean two quite different quotes.

A useful specification describes one opening at a time. It gives the clear height, the load in kilograms, the beam or pipe to avoid, and the finish. The size of the campus tells a reader how much power the site will use, but it tells the workshop nothing about how long a handrail should be.

If the mechanical contractor is in Singapore and the site is in Johor, please tell us who is allowed to approve a change. Singapore and Malaysia are in the same time zone, so a question sent in the morning can usually be answered the same day. Even so, please confirm every change on the drawing or by email. A change agreed only in a site chat group will not be on the drawing that we cut from.

For the general information a workshop needs before it can quote, see What a Fabricator Actually Needs to Quote From Your Drawing. For a platform, please add the load and anything the platform must avoid. A drawing that shows only the top of the platform leaves out half of what the workshop needs.

If the frame, the deck and the handrail are ordered from three different suppliers, someone will have to line up the holes on site. Single-Source Fabrication: How Drawing-to-Assembly Under One Roof Cuts Project Risk explains why it helps to have related parts made in one workshop. The same reasoning applies whether the parts are stainless steel or not.

What to send from Singapore or Johor

TH Steel's workshop is in Bayan Lepas, Penang. We are not a site contractor in Johor, and we do not install equipment or run cables. What we can do is make parts to your drawing, and agree with you how they will be delivered. Please send the following for each part.

• The opening and anything in the way: the beam, column or piece of equipment that the computer model did not show.
• The load: a number in kilograms, not a word such as "heavy".
• The finish: painted mild steel, galvanised mild steel or stainless steel. If you write "same as the other hall", please send a photograph of the hall you mean.
• The delivery point: a site in Johor and a crate that must be cleared into Singapore are different jobs, even when the parts are the same.
• The date: the day the installation team will be on site to fit the part.

If the part is mild steel, please say so in your first email, and we will confirm whether we can make it before we quote.

Why the second platform is not always a copy of the first

When the installer fits the first platform, they will often mark a beam or pipe that it nearly hit. The drawing for the next platform should be based on that marked-up first piece, not on the original computer model. On a campus with several identical buildings, it is tempting to write "same as the last one". But the beams, pipes and columns in the next building may not be in exactly the same places.

So please name the building or the area each platform is for, and attach the marked-up drawing from the first one. The quantity can increase, but each new location should be checked. The first platform is allowed to reveal problems. By the third, those problems should already be on the drawing.

Please also say whether the handrail is needed on one side or both, and whether a kick plate is required at floor level. These two details change the workshop hours more than you might expect.

What we will not do

We will not install the platforms in Johor. We will make them in Penang, to the drawing you approve, and we will tell you if a drawing is not yet complete enough to cut from. We will not treat a data centre frame as a semiconductor enclosure unless you send us that requirement.

Send the drawing, the load, the finish and the delivery point. Tell us whether this is a first platform or a repeat of one that has already been fitted.