What Black & White's CTO Move Means for Data Centre Growth

Black & White Engineering, a global data centre design consultancy, has appointed two new senior leaders in tech as the company scales across international markets.

Charlie Bater will be leading technical operations in his new role as Chief Technical Officer, and Paul Cook will be joining the company as Global Director of Technology & Innovation.

Both moves come as the company expands its footprint across 24 locations with more than 1,000 employees worldwide, reflecting rising demand for more integrated and data-led approaches to delivering complex data centre and critical infrastructure projects.

As data centre environments become more advanced and increasingly energy-intensive, design consultancies are adapting to support performance across the full lifecycle, from early-stage strategy through to long-term operation.

Leadership structure evolves with growth

Charlie Bater is stepping into the newly created CTO role after eight years with the business, having served as Global Datacentre Director.

During that time, he has contributed to regional expansion, strengthened technical standards and supported a consistent approach to delivery across projects.

The creation of the CTO position forms part of a broader evolution of Black & White’s technical leadership structure, which intends to enhance engineering capability across its global teams.

It also reflects a wider shift in the data centre sector, where increasing complexity is driving demand for closer alignment between design and delivery.

Charlie says: “Stepping into the CTO role is an incredible opportunity, and I’m grateful for the trust placed in me.

“Having grown with the business over the past seven years, I’ve seen firsthand the strength of our people and the ambition that drives Black & White.

“My focus is to build on our position as a leading data centre design consultancy by further enabling a technical function that drives innovation, supports our teams and ensures we continue delivering high-quality solutions for our clients across global markets.”

Focus on tech and innovation

Paul Cook, joining the senior leadership team as Global Director of Technology & Innovation, will work closely with Charlie.

The company's aim is for the two leaders to develop a more structured and practical approach to innovation that complements engineering expertise and strengthens how projects perform beyond handover.

Paul brings experience across critical infrastructure, hyperscale data centres and complex integrated environments, with a background spanning utilities, ports, pharmaceutical research and healthcare.

He joins from Yondr Group, where he led technology, research and development and innovation for intelligent data centre platforms and previously held senior roles at ISG focused on digital integration.

Paul notes: “A consistent theme throughout my career has been understanding how complex environments operate in practice and how better integration of infrastructure, digital capability and operational processes can improve performance and resilience.

“At Black & White, the opportunity is to build a Technology and Innovation capability that is practical and supports how projects are delivered day to day, while also ensuring that buildings are designed to provide operational insight and enable effective performance over their lifecycle, supported by a structured research and development framework that ensures innovation is captured and applied in a measurable way.

“That means being clear about where technology adds value, improving how data is used and strengthening decision-making from the earliest stages of a project.”

Global Engineering Team growth

Both appointments sit within the continued development of Black & White’s Global Engineering Team, which was designed to support project teams and strengthen technical direction from the outset.

The team also plays a role in improving consistency across regions, supporting bid development and embedding innovation and standardisation into delivery processes.

As data centre projects grow in scale and complexity, such centralised engineering functions are becoming more common across the industry, helping organisations maintain consistency while scaling internationally.

Charlie will lead the ongoing development of this capability, with a focus on improving efficiency and long-term performance across projects.