The future of DC construction is Modular!?

(Opinion: Lander Davidson, Consultant @ Browne’s)

Modular construction is rightly becoming one of the biggest conversations in data centre delivery.

At recent industry events and project discussions, the same themes keep coming up: shorter programmes, constrained labour, sustainability targets, complex sequencing and the need for greater certainty. It is easy to see why modular solutions are attracting attention.

The design & engineering consultancy, Arcadis has done excellent work in framing this debate properly. Its recent paper on modular data centres does not present modular as a silver bullet, but as a serious delivery strategy that can support speed, repeatability, quality control, safer working conditions, reduced site labour and better programme certainty when used in the right context. Arcadis’ wider data centre work also reflects the same balanced approach, supporting clients from concept development and sustainable design through to delivery and asset management.

That is exactly the kind of conversation the industry needs more of.

Modular has huge potential, and we fully support the work being done by Arcadis and others to explore how it can improve data centre delivery. Their approach recognises something important: better outcomes come from earlier, more open conversations between the right people, not from forcing every project into the same answer.

The challenge is that the wider industry, with its often bloated supply chain, does not always work that way. Too often, specialist input is brought in after the key decisions have already been made. By then, the programme is fixed, the interfaces are crowded, the site constraints are real, and the opportunity to design out inefficiency has already been reduced.

Arcadis also makes an important point that should not be missed: modular is not one single answer. It sits on a spectrum, from standardised components and prefabricated MEP skids through to fully integrated modules. It also brings trade-offs, including reduced design flexibility, interface risk, logistics constraints, regulatory mismatch, supplier dependence and the danger of choosing a product before the project is properly defined.

In short, modular is valuable, but it is not automatically cheaper, greener or better. Its success depends on the fit between the product, the site, the programme and the operating model.

While the industry continues to develop modular approaches, there are still major gains available right now.

One of the most immediate is smarter access.

Access is still too often treated as a supporting package. Something to price once the main construction plan is already set. Something to install, adapt, strip and rebuild as the programme develops. On a complex data centre project, that approach is no longer good enough.

Access affects how quickly trades can work, how safely they move through the site, how often work areas need to change, and how much time is lost to clashes, waiting, restricted movement or late redesign.

If the industry is serious about speed, certainty, safety and sustainability, access needs to be discussed much earlier.

That does not just mean traditional scaffold around a structure. It means looking properly at how people, materials, tools and specialist trades move through the build. It means understanding M&E sequencing, cable pulling, containment, high-level work, plant areas, façade access, roof works, maintenance zones and future adaptability.

The best access solution is rarely the one designed in isolation. It is the one designed around the way the project actually needs to be delivered.

Earlier coordination between main contractors, designers, M&E specialists, temporary works teams and access providers can remove avoidable friction before it reaches site. It can reduce adaptations, improve trade flow, support safer working and reduce wasteful duplication.

That has a sustainability benefit too.

Every unnecessary adaptation, rebuild, delivery, collection or reconfiguration adds labour, transport, material movement and site activity. A better-planned access system can often do more with less.

This is the thinking behind Browne’s xML approach.

Our xML innovations have been developed around a simple principle: data centre access should support the build sequence, not interrupt it. Instead of treating access as a single lift or isolated scaffold requirement, our xMLs creates multiple working layers that can support different activities at different stages of the programme.

That gives trades greater flexibility, reduces stop-start sequencing and helps improve coordination in tight, high-pressure environments.

The point is not that smarter access replaces modular construction. It does not.

Modular will continue to play a growing and important role in the future of data centre delivery. But many of the problems driving the modular conversation can be addressed now through better access planning.

Programme pressure. Delays. Safety. Waste. Labour efficiency. Trade coordination. Site congestion.

These are not only modular issues. They are access issues too.

Arcadis is right to push the industry towards earlier strategic thinking, better integration and whole-life value. We just believe that access needs to be part of that same conversation.

Earlier.

Not when the scaffold is already needed.

Not when a clash has appeared.

Not when the programme is already under pressure.

If access is brought into the conversation early enough, it becomes more than a temporary works package.

It becomes a programme tool.