The structural steel under the cooling plant — rooftop dunnage, yard equipment platforms, tower and dry-cooler support frames, vibration-isolation bases, and the stairs and walkways that service them — detailed to the equipment and galvanized for the roof.
Chillers, dry coolers, cooling towers and air-cooled condensers are among the heaviest things on a data center roof or yard, and they do not sit on a curb. They sit on dunnage: welded structural frames that spread the load to the building columns, raise the equipment for airflow and drainage, carry the piping connections and isolators, and give the service crew a platform and a stair. On a yard-mounted plant the same steel becomes equipment platforms, pipe-rack ties and access structures. It is the structural fabricator's scope, and most mechanical contractors would rather buy it than build it.
FabTek fabricates cooling-equipment support steel at our Hazlehurst, Mississippi plants: wide-flange and HSS dunnage frames cut on our robotic beam line, base plates and connection plates laser-cut, welded to AWS D1.1, hot-dip galvanized through our finishing partners, and shipped with the grating, handrail and stairs from our platforms and catwalk lines.
Welded equipment support frames spanning to building structure, with isolator mounts and flashing clearances.
Elevated frames and platforms for chillers, towers and dry coolers on grade or piers.
Basin support steel, fan-deck access and tie-ins to the piping racks.
Inertia-base frames and isolator rails to the equipment manufacturer's drawings.
Service platforms, ships ladders, stairs and guardrail around the equipment.
Send the equipment drawings and the structural details; we fabricate the steel and the anchor templates.
Data center roofs and cooling yards; central utility plants; modular and containerized cooling plants; industrial process-cooling installations; and generator and transformer yards that share the same structural package. Mechanical contractors, developers and GCs buy dunnage and platforms with the rest of the mechanical steel; equipment OEMs specify isolation bases and frames for their units.
| Materials | ASTM A36 / A572 Gr. 50 wide-flange, channel and plate; A500 HSS; bar grating and handrail |
|---|---|
| Connections | Bolted (A325/A490) or welded per the structural details; base plates with anchor templates |
| Loads | Equipment operating and seismic loads per the engineer's design; isolator and inertia-base provisions |
| Access | Grating platforms, stairs, ships ladders and guardrail to OSHA requirements |
| Finish | Hot-dip galvanized (ASTM A123) through finishing partners; powder coat for interior steel |
| Welding | AWS D1.1 by certified welders; CWI inspection where specified |
| Documentation | Material certs, galvanizing certs, weld inspection records, erection drawings; ISO 9001:2015 |
| Also specified as | Equipment dunnage, rooftop dunnage, chiller platform, cooling tower support, dry cooler frame, equipment support steel, inertia base frame |
Representative capabilities — exact ranges, ratings, and finishes are confirmed per project. Send drawings and a spec for a firm quote.
Dunnage built to a nominal footprint will miss the real one. FabTek details support frames to the equipment manufacturer's certified drawings, checks isolator and connection locations against the piping layout, and ships anchor templates so the roof penetrations and piers are set before the steel arrives. Frames ship in pieces sized to the crane and the roof access, match-marked for the erector.
Built at four production sites in Hazlehurst, Mississippi.
ISO 9001:2015 quality management, AWS-certified welding, OSHA-compliant facilities.
In-house powder coat backed by an IEEE 2000-hour salt-spray certification.
Reserved-line capacity and the automation to grow with your volume.
Yes. We fabricate welded dunnage frames, equipment platforms, isolation bases and access steel to the engineer's details at our Mississippi plants, galvanized for the roof.
FabTek Industries fabricates cooling plant support steel alongside the pipe racks, spools and skids for the same plant, so the mechanical steel package comes from one source.
Our crews erect substation and yard structures in our service area; for rooftop dunnage we supply match-marked steel and erection drawings to the contractor's erector.
The structural design is the engineer's. We fabricate to it and provide shop drawings for approval.
Explore related lines: Data center mechanical · Equipment skids & platforms · Catwalks, stairs & guardrail · Pipe supports & racks · Structural steel
Further reading: Buying Dunnage and Cooling Equipment Support Steel for a Data Center · What a hyperscaler GC buys from a metal fabricator · What's inside a data center
Have equipment support steel to quote? Send the equipment drawings and the structural details — we'll come back with shop drawings, anchor templates and a price, typically within one business day.