Gleeds Mission Critical
Our team has already delivered an impressive 1.2 Gigawatts/1.5 million m2 of data centre capacity globally.
Gleeds EMEA recognises the many growth opportunities for our clients in the data centre sector. As such, we are making a significant strategical manoeuvre towards meeting market demands by assembling our Mission Critical team of eminent data centre experts.
This corporate commitment will allow us to continue helping investors and developers with their digital needs and increase their market shares in the construction end of delivering data centres.
EMEA Data Centres
Rapid investment in 5G technology and general growing data needs are increasing the new and expanding data centre market.
According to GlobeNewswire, the EMEA region expects an 8 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2022-2026. This will lead to a nearly 4.5B€ market size increase during the forecasted period.
Unprecedented Growth
The following five categories of technological advancements are contributing to the exponential growth in demand for data centres:
Unprecedented Growth
The following five categories of technological advancements are contributing to the exponential growth in demand for data centres:
Internet of Things (IoT)
This includes your smart speaker at home, wireless printers and the connected cameras that protect our homes and businesses; all of these require an Internet Protocol (IP) address of their own and a connection port to the internet, resulting in multiplied needs for data capacities.
The average household uses approximately 8-12 unique IP addresses.
Internal and subsea connectivity
Both within and between regions, subsea cables provide connectivity required to meet post-pandemic needs such as increased contactless commercial transactions and remote work locations.
According to DOCOMO’s CEO, Jonathan Kriegel, commercial transactions will expand at a CAGR of 18.6 percent to reach a trillion transactions in 2022.
The masterplan to connect 33 countries across Europe, Asia and Africa with subsea cables requires building DC campuses near water, targeting coastal cities along the Atlantic and Mediterranean for new DC construction.
Data Collection
Growing interest in data collection has led to Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning and complicated analytical applications. The surge of cybersecurity attacks on organisations has contributed to AI’s rapid growth.
There is also an increasing demand for data analytics where an organisation’s historical market and performance information are mined to forecast the organisation’s future performance.
AI-driven automation has improved performance in numerous industries, including aviation, pharma, medical, energy and agriculture.
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
The rise in European colocation services can be attributed to 2018 EU legislation on GDPR.
GDPR prohibits data storage from crossing international borders, resulting in companies shifting data to cloud-based services for data localisation.
5G technology
5G allows for increased bandwidth, potentially becoming primary Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for many, including underserviced regions lacking existing infrastructure.
NextGeneration EU, the EU's recovery plan, requires 20 percent of all funding be applied to digital improvements such as installing 5G technology.
Across EMEA, government recovery plans, such as KSA’s Vision 2030, are shifting services online.
Europe is also witnessing an increase in demand from Chinese telecoms and hyper-scalers hoping to grow their global networks, as can be seen by the addition of Huawei looking to expand across EMEA.
Location Matters!
Mainland Europe
Western Europe
The emergence of software-defined architectures and converged infrastructure is expected to drive the IT infrastructure solutions market in Western Europe.
Currently, Germany is the leading market in IT infrastructure spending, starting with an initial investment of 2.18B€ in 2018 with a total investment forecast of 9B€ to 10.9B€ by the end of 2022. Germany is followed by the UK, the Netherlands, France and Ireland.
Nordic Region
The increasing adoption of cloud computing services in the Nordic region is leading to growth in the procurement of IT infrastructure components, with demand for newly established and existing data centres growing significantly. Finland, Sweden and Denmark are the leading contributors to cloud adoption, with 50 percent of enterprises using cloud computing services.
Middle East and Africa
The Middle East accounts for 55 percent of overall investment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
KSA’s digital infrastructure ranks seventh globally in terms of speed and 5G quality. The recently launched National Strategy for Data and AI has seen 18B€ of investment.
Countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel will drive further data centre demand, resulting in cloud service providers expanding their presence across the region in coming years.
Green Data Centres
Utilising approximately 1–2 percent of global electrical supply, data centres are resource-hungry facilities that do not require many employees to operate.
The increased carbon footprint from new data centre construction and operation should be addressed as part of clients’ net zero carbon planning and corporate strategies.
The impact of construction and operation on both the environment and the local community is pivotal to planning approval, land acquisition and successful Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA’s).
Therefore, over the years, clients have addressed sustainability and environmental impact under an umbrella of risk management through a variety of ongoing initiatives over the years, particularly when considering new, untried and untested technologies in the field.
Typical initiatives are:
- Recycled steel
- Re-use of rainwater
- Reducing water loss in cooling systems
- Free cooling where local climate permits
- Green electrical supply from the grid
- Renewable electrical supply (solar, hydro, wind, etc.), if available
- LEED/BREEAM targets
- Hot and cold aisles to racking
- Extensive building automation and rack automation systems.
New technologies include:
- Hydrogen cells
- Lithium batteries technology
- State Point Liquid Cooling
- Liquid Rack Cooling.
Risk Management
Supply Chain
Lead times are lengthening for major MEP equipment and for recycled structural steel. This is due to an increase in demand, coupled with supply chain materials shortages and logistics problems. The fluctuation in the price of steel, copper and aluminium is significantly impacting building services, which account for approximately 65 percent of data centre costs.
To offset this, Gleeds’ timely local market studies lead to performance-based forecasting that allow our clients to make informed business decisions in their supply chain management. Through our expert advice and advocacy, clients are setting up procurement frameworks with suppliers and leveraging volume discounts at a national level, to secure fixed prices going forward.
Skilled Labour
Because the boom in data centre construction has strained current skilled labour forces, Gleeds has invested in upskilling local teams by developing our own internal Gleeds Academy. Our staff has data centre-specific training that is not only relevant to the demands of the market, but equally applicable to the service streams that Gleeds provides to our clients.
Gleeds EMEA Mission Critical
Building on our existing relationships with a Who’s Who list of top-tier data clients
Dedicated team leadership with extensive project experience
Recognising sector specifics and investing in our people through our bespoke Mission Critical blended learning courses
Building on our existing relationships with a Who’s Who list of top-tier data clients
Dedicated team leadership with extensive project experience
Recognising sector specifics and investing in our people through our bespoke Mission Critical blended learning courses
As a trusted advisor and advocate for a broad range of clients across EMEA, Gleeds’ unrivalled coverage, together with our proven local experience, allows us to provide our clients with practical and effective procurement strategies that lead to cost and schedule savings.
Want more information?
Contact Gleeds EMEA Mission Critical
Want more information?
Contact Gleeds EMEA Mission Critical
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