, engineering and integrated design company whose activities span from analy­sis and business strategy through architecture and engineering.

The hope is they can do it more quickly than state-run projects..Available, reliable power is certainly a key driver in finding locations for DCs.

But added to this is the issue of data-sovereignty and cost.Countries and companies are sensitive about where their data is stored and the implications of having it stolen or data flows disrupted.The UK and US are reducing regulations to stay competitive in the market, whereas the EU is maintaining a high regulatory stance, and, as such, this market seems to be stagnating.. How does all this impact project development?.

10 to 15 years ago, when average cab density was still well below 10kW per cab, proximity to fibre network was the key indicator for site viability.However, the expansion of fibre networks and reduced latency criticality associated with AI, has shifted the focus to power availability.

Increased non-water-based cooling demands with an associated increase in power consumption is further driving most site acquisition conversations to focus on power, and lead time to power availability..

The simplicity of the single-story campus also remains a key challenge for Europe, and, even in the US, this development strategy is being challenged.Examples of AI are often narrowly defined and only really touch a very specific part of the overall process; the part for which large data sets do exist.. ‘Generative design’ means many things, but generally it’s an approach used in the industry to solve complicated problems; you use generative design to create loads of possible solutions or scenarios, from which you choose the best..

The Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach that we have in Bryden Wood – which is embedded in Creative Technologies – means that something like generative design can be more powerful, as it can be built around design rules and content that’s inherently more clearly defined..When people in the industry talk about cutting-edge construction technologies, these are usually buzzwords about things that are not widely in use, generally misunderstood and unlikely ever to deliver the advertised benefits – because they’re not appropriate solutions and our industry is too far from ready.

It’s good that people talk about construction tech – that creates an environment broadly open to tech – but that’s not the same as being able to actually use it..In our team, we only ever apply technology when it is appropriate to the problem at hand.