Our modern lives are largely driven by massive amounts of data – data that must be stored in, processed by and transmitted by a vast and rapidly growing network of data centers across the country. The demand for premium data services shows no signs of slowing down, and the race is on for developers to build mission critical facilities to meet that demand.

Across the US, Balfour Beatty is a top mission critical and data center builder. Even as the mission critical industry continues to rapidly change, our teams have the expertise, advanced project solutions and collaborative spirit to meet and exceed the needs of this thriving market, including and especially newly emerging trends as the mission critical sector seeks long-term success.

1. Enhanced Sustainability

Drive profits by conserving resources.

Sustainability in any field of construction is both a vital and difficult task, and data centers are no exception. Still, as data centers are poised to utilize more and more of our generated energy and water resources, every sustainable advantage counts.

Sustainability is also one of Balfour Beatty’s core values, and our project teams have the expertise and solutions to back it up with action and not just ideas. With methods like offering more sustainable materials during a collaborative design process, reusing material or diverting waste to recycling facilities and taking advantage of waste-slashing solutions like prefabrication, we help our mission critical clients achieve their sustainability goals.

2. Prefabrication

Measure twice, cut once, reduce waste and re-work.

Beyond just a sustainability measure, prefabrication is a significant cost-saving and safety-enhancing measure by driving hours out of the field and into more precise prefabrication facilities.

On data centers especially, prefabricated materials can run the gamut of the entire facility -from curtain or panelized tilt-up walls to utility chases, server cabinets and more. Every prefabricated element is extensively coordinated and engineered in advance, ensuring that each fits the project like a glove and reduces costly re-work or wasted materials.

3. Lean Construction Solutions

Waste reduction: it’s not just for materials anymore.

Hand-in-hand with Balfour Beatty’s industry-leading sustainability practice, our teams across the country are also industry-leading lean builders with leveraging the advantages of the Last Planner System®. Lean construction methods similarly drive down risk and waste, not just in raw and manufactured materials but also in staffing structures, interpersonal relationships and processes.

Our lean experts are also actively engaged  with the Lean Construction Institute (LCI) and are regular presenters at LCI Congress and even frequent direct LCI collaborators, including most recently Mid-Atlantic Vice President Bevan Mace’s service as an LCI Board member and Director of Digital Adoption Daniel Shirkey’s service as 2024 LCI Congress Chair. We know lean, and we can improve your data center project with lean methods.

4. Edge Data Centers

Bigger isn’t always better.

When most laypeople think of data centers, they likely picture the massive hyperscaler projects that make headlines and community waves. While data megacenters are certainly still a (large) part of the ever-lengthening mission critical equation, some industry experts project that AI, 5G data services and remote work will only increase the value of “edge data centers.”

So called because they orbit the periphery of the cloud while hyperscalers are often the hubs around which the cloud revolves, edge centers spread out the risk of server downtime, improve latency times for end-users and generally create a more reliable network.

Our teams are just as adept at these projects as with our many-megawatt hyperscalers, combining our mission critical expertise with the speed and agility of our special projects operations.

5. Adaptive reuse

Use the space you already have.

Unlike hyperscalers or enterprise data centers that may need ground-up construction to suit their needs at scale, edge centers are often better suited for existing spaces. This places their construction squarely in the realm of our adaptive reuse expertise across the country, even if the conversion to server space is from an office building and not a historic landmark – but we can do that too.

Adaptive reuse for data center construction doesn’t preclude custom features, either. If our team can turn a 60,000-square foot Coca-Cola bottling facility into premium lifestyle space, we can convert your disused office floor into a safe and secure data center.

6. Virtual Design and Construction

See, manipulate and understand your design before we build it.

We know our data center clients understand better than anyone the value of data, and our Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) teams put that data to work.

VDC is hardly a unique feature of mission critical projects, but the application of VDC has at times been thought too slow to suit the lightning-fast pace of these projects.

But no longer. Using the cutting-edge of tools from laser scanners to jobsite progress capture to overhead and in-building drones, our local VDC teams give clients the tools to visualize, understand and progress track their project from design through completion, along the way eliminating design issues that could jeopardize success.