Provision for critical digital infrastructure is an essential and central aspect of our lives, without which the modern world simply would not function. Data centre advice has been provided by our practice since 2008. Acting for clients across the sector, DLA has a leading role in supporting the rapid growth and advancement within data infrastructure.

Advising through project conception, risk appraisal, engagement, submission, negotiation of approvals and delivery compliance, DLA has been engaged on over 60 data centre schemes. Our work has included both free standing facilities in well-established employment areas or on brownfield land, as well as linked clusters and hyperscale data centre campus projects providing regional, national and global data hubs in their own right. Projects range from only 3MW load to longer-term projects delivering over 450MW of IT capacity, with clients including a number wholesale, retail and hybrid colocation operators, global hyperscale providers, tenants, real estate, and private sector developers.

As the English land use and development plan system has yet to embrace this use with allocated sites well located to a viable grid connection, we use our strategic experience to ensure that locations are deliverable and employ our data centre team’s effective development management skills to ensure that opportunities are delivered through the planning system to discharge of the last condition, delivery of the final fitout and operation.

The past decade has brought unprecedented opportunities for the delivery of this aspect of our work with immense changes in the way we interact online, both knowingly, and unknowingly. Instant access to data to learn, shop, interact, work and do business, provide health care and entertainment constantly evolves. With the growing appreciation of what AI can deliver for us, this sector is again undergoing seismic changes which will require us to plan differently, act faster and be ahead of the technology curve to respond to the exponential growth in global demand and data centre investment.

With almost two decades of experience in this specialist planning sector, we are well placed to respond to this shifting agenda. Indeed, for many of our clients, along with the provision of power, de-risking the planning process is fundamental to their success in a highly competitive market. DLA’s broader perspective draws in a wide range of factors from managing local and national political risk factors, and ensuring our customers deliver on environmental standards, against client corporate objectives and those of their future tenants.

Our dedicated team of planning consultants apply both a detailed knowledge of the legislative system and development management pragmatism, with more than a dash of creativity, to achieve the timely delivery of the essential digital building blocks of our lives.