With the importance of data centres and supporting digital infrastructure growing ever-increasingly important — and demands on them growing at a similar rate — our Top 10 unveils the industry's leading advisory firms that empower organisations to navigate the complex landscape of data centre planning, design, and management as well as nurturing the development to ensure facilities are sustainable future-proof.
10. Future-tech
With core beliefs of being catalysts for change, Future-tech’s teams drive its people, designs, services and business as a whole by championing and facilitating data centre greatness. In the last three years alone, Future-tech has been engaged on more than 3GW of data centre capacity on a variety of consultancy elements, integrating with its clients to produce designs, better infrastructure and, as a result, better data centres, for its clientele. It has also engaged with the likes of the Uptime Institute to enhance its own knowledge and expertise.
9. i3 Solutions Group
A specialist data centre MEP consulting engineering firm, i3 Solutions Group is globally recognised for its design expertise, future thinking and innovative approach exemplified. With a pedigree that stretches back to the beginnings of the dotcom economy and beyond, i3’s data centre design solutions are innovative, cost optimised, reliable, flexible, maintainable and efficient and allow the group to deliver the best value and quality to its clients.
8. Sudlows
Sudlows is an award-winning data centre consultant structured to provide support, expertise, and management to navigate through the entire life cycle of critical facilities. In operation for more than 110 years, Sudlows was a founding member of the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA). With offices in the UK, Europe, Middle East, India and Singapore, Sudlows provides a full range of technical services for data centres, critical infrastructures, enterprise services and facilities management building projects thanks to its teams which have decades of experience in data centre consultation, design, build, testing, maintenance, integration, connectivity.
7. Cundall
Aglobal, independent, multi-disciplinary consultancy delivering sustainable engineering and design solutions, Cundall takes a holistic approach to critical systems and data centre projects to meet its clients’ objectives. Since Cundall’s Critical Systems Team was created in 2006, it has delivered more than 1000MW of data centre capacity with its clients. Its global teams have a combined focus on delivering the most energy-efficient, low-emissions, technically robust and socially responsible data centres in the world.
6. RPS Group
With an in-depth understanding of its client’s challenges, risks and commercial objectives, RPS works as project partners across all construction stages, from site selection and evaluation through to testing, commissioning and completion. From hyperscale to colocation, the group has a deep understanding of the local markets in which it operates as well as the physical, technical and operational requirements of all types of data centres. With this knowledge, it aims to use its knowledge to also nurtuse companies through the transition to a net zero through a shift in the way data infrastructure is planned, designed and built.
5. Arup
Arup’s data centre and mission critical specialists are innovators in technological facilities, working with some of the most complex and data driven companies to meet today’s data needs. Boasting a strong reputation for delivering engineering and consulting services for data centre projects among various other infrastructure and construction initiatives, the company offers science and industry expertise through regional consultants around the world, including the Americas, Australasia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and East Asia.
4. Ramboll
Ramboll creates integrated and strategic infrastructure solutions that promote resilience, efficiency and a circular economy for data centre clients that delivers energy efficiency, climate benefits and cost savings.
WIth the ICT sector experiencing unprecedented growth and being responsible for 2% of global CO₂ emissions, Ramboll plays its part in helping facilities be their most sustainable and resilient, which is essential to reliability, agility and community acceptance. Through partnerships, the brand works to improve the sector’s sustainability and performance by offering global expertise in creating integrated and strategic infrastructure solutions for data centres that support a circular economy, ecosystems and a cooler climate.
3. CBRE
CBRE has more than 25 years’ experience operating specialist teams that offer consulting, advisory and transaction, project management and integrated data centre operations services. It bills itself as the only global full-service data centre services provider.
Calling data centres one of the industry’s most dynamic asset types, CBRE are experts in solving complex challenges for its clients. With teams all over the world, CBRE pairs market expertise with local intelligence to deliver comprehensive solutions to keep its clientele ahead of relevant trends and technologies.
2. Arcadis
With commitments to improving quality of life, sustainability and digital innovation, Arcadis has in excess of 40,000 projects and operates in more than 70 countries worldwide. Clients in its arsenal range from hyperscalers to enterprise facilities.
Delivering sustainable design, engineering and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets is at the core of Arcadis’ work, with its teams made up of innovators who challenge the status quo and maximise their impact for clients and in communities globally.
James Rix, Arcadis’ Project Director & Global Lead for Data Centers, gives key insights on the future of data centre facilities and infrastructure, particularly on angles including sustainability and AI. In a recent article, he explained that growing demand on facilities drives the need for more energy, while also highlighting what the impact of that may be when it comes to meeting green targets. “Who knows… AI will be the key that unlocks a lot of the potential solutions for net zero data centres – whether it’s optimising the code of the governing software, supporting local authorities to make smarter and better investments in their infrastructure or even doing my job better than I can, and designing the ultimate optimal net zero data centre.”
1. Jacobs
A global leader in providing integrated planning, architecture, engineering, project and construction management and commissioning for data centre facilities, Jacobs nabbed the top spot in the Data Center Design Firm’s Engineering News-Record and Building Design + Construction. Over the last decade, the company has delivered more than 17 million square feet of data centre white space and 3,600MW in power demand totalling more than $30 billion in construction value.
Koti Vadlamudi, Jacobs’ Senior Vice President and General Manager, Advanced Facilities said: “With our rapid shift to virtualisation during the past year, data centres are even more critical to how we work and live. Jacobs’ global team works across six continents to deliver projects for some of the world’s largest data centre providers often under crucial time constraints. Our team of subject matter experts is also addressing critical challenges for the industry like sustainability and carbon neutrality, driving innovation around renewable power and water technologies for many of our clients.”
