The CERN Control Centre: Setting Standards for the 21st Century

In 2003, CERN decided to build a unified control centre to replace four of its control rooms: the â€ﾜMeyrin Control Room” which controlled the PS complex, the â€ﾜPrevessin Control Room” (PCR) which controlled the SPS and until 2000 LEP, the Technical Control Room (TCR), and the Cryogenics Control Room (QCR). After first contemplating a possible implementation next to the â€ﾜGlobe of Science and Innovation”, it was decided for budgetary reasons to build the new CERN Control Centre (CCC) on the same location as the PCR. This represented a 50% saving in construction costs as most of the technical infrastructure (computer network, water, electricity, ventilation) was already in place, but added stringent time constraints: civil engineering could not begin before the SPS shutdown in November 2004, yet the room had to be ready for the accelerator operations to resume in March 2006. Although this presented a strict construction schedule, it allowed the project to be completely driven by the operational needs of CERN, and not by public relations activities.