Let’s establish sustainable data centres of the future together

End-to-end project execution

At COWI, we provide end-to-end consulting when you need to establish a data centre in the Nordic region. Our experience, local knowledge and in-depth expertise ensures a smooth process, that we always strive to be on-time and on-target.

COWI's data centre delivery model

To enrich your experience, COWI employs a delivery model refined through experience from major infrastructure projects. The model encompasses the full lifecycle of data centres, covering early planning, site selection and design, through to construction, commissioning and operational handover.

Specialising in full-discipline services, COWI has the expertise to navigate Nordic local regulations, accelerating project delivery and minimising delays.  

Customers benefit from a consistent and reassuring single point of contact, who guides the project from inception to completion, ensuring efficient progression through each phase. COWI's approach delivers integrated solutions that streamline the transition from construction to operation, backed by a wealth of local experience.

The delivery model step-by step

Site selection & due diligence​

  • Location-to-x site selection tool​

  • Community and social impacts​

  • Water infrastructure ​
    and hydro-tech ​

  • Climate change and flood ​
    risk assessments​

  • Geotechnical investigation ​

  • Archaeology​

  • Test fits​

  • Natural resources​

  • Generator emission ​
    modelling​

  • Air quality testing ​

  • Sound and vibration​

  • Traffic impact​

  • Explosives risk​

Project Management Consultancy​

  • Owner representative​

  • Project management of multiple work streams throughout the project​

  • Sparring and guides to define the strategies that will support the implementation of the project​

  • Liaising and negotiating on behalf of the customer with authorities and other stakeholders like utility,  landowner, and citizens ​

  • Coordinating and hiring sub-contractors when needed​

  • Providing a clear path to obtaining all required permits and goals within the project schedule​

Planning & permitting

  • Existing zoning conditions​

  • Input to new local plan​

  • SEA & EIA ​

  • Environmental-, construction- and building permits​

  • Fire strategy and certification​

  • Structural certification​

Design, Architecture, and design localization

  • CSLA Civil- Structural- Landscape & ​
    Architectural Services​
  • MEP ‒ Electrical and Mechanical & ​
    Plumbing engineering​
  • Localization of global designs to country ​
    specific regulations​
    • Fire Strategy Engineering and certification​
    • Structural Engineering and certification​
  • Waste heat recovery, tie into district heating​

Construction

  • Building permit compliance​

  • Construction supervision & resident engineers​

  • Civils, structural, landscape & architectural (CSLA)​

  • Mechanical, electrical & plumbing (MEP)​

  • BIM embedded in all processes​

  • Fibre, utilities, FLS, security perimeter, substations​

  • Value engineering, build to suit projects and modular DC​

  • Land surveying, scanning and reporting​

  • HSE construction safety ​

  • Cxa ‒ commissioning service

Operations

  • Retrofit​

  • Environmental compliance​

  • Safety compliance, performance, and risk assessment​

  • Indoor environment evaluations and abatement ​

  • Environmental, health, and safety auditing​

  • Water use design and management

Decommissioning and repurposing​

  • Environmental due diligence ​

  • Decontamination​

  • Master planning ​

  • Architectural solutions ​

  • Environmental permitting and impact assessment ​

  • Dilapidation assessment and reporting​

  • Structural assessment and design​

Nordic knowledge

As a Nordic-based engineering company, COWI has offices across Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. This gives us in-depth knowledge of regional, domestic and local conditions, regulations and legislation.

We are accustomed to working with all parts of a project in our home markets, handling local conditions, contact with authorities, utility adaptation  and public opinion. This ensures that when COWI manages a project, we know what is doable and what is expected.

Even within the Nordics, there are many different requirements and regulations to consider when establishing a data centre. Through our local knowledge and experience, we incorporate these into the project seamlessly from the beginning, ensuring a robust delivery.

COWI Digital design and digitalisation

In today's digital era, data centres play a crucial role in supporting various technological advancements such as global communication networks and the increasing demand for cloud services and artificial intelligence. However, constructing these critical facilities presents its own set of challenges.

COWI prides itself on the transformative potential of leveraging advanced building information modelling (BIM) integration. By adopting this approach, data centre designers can maximise efficiency and sustainability, ensure rigorous reliability and future-proof the build long before the construction process begins. With the addition of laser scanning, the physical structure can be verified against digital models to ensure meticulous alignment with the planned design. 

CSLA at COWI

COWI have been a civil and structural engineering company of choice leading to an impressive portfolio, helping to deliver some of the largest and most secure data centres in the Nordics.
 
This focus on structural performance, on scalable campuses on green and brown-field sites in only possible due to a diverse range of engineering talent that is familiar with the structure and process necessary to successfully deliver at speed and scale in region.
 
But, being a good neighbour is key to a bright digital future, architecture helps the data centres of the future integrate with local communities and meet your environmental ambitions. Sympathetic to the surrounding areas whilst practical enough to ensure availability through road access.

COWIs local architects at Arkitema

  • Architectural vision

    At Arkitema, we work to shape the cities of the future, where design, architecture and technology come together to create intelligent, sustainable environments. Our approach is based on high standards of trust, equality and solidarity, and we always work in a team structure that values knowledge-sharing.

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  • Specialists

    As one of the largest architectural firms in the Nordic Region, Arkitema has a wide range of highly specialised architects within most parts of Architecture. We have worked on numerous projects within industry, energy and data centres.

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  • Nordic presence

    Arkitema has 8 offices in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, combined. This ensures that we are always close to our projects, and know all local, regional, and national possibilities. We work across national borders and utilise each other’s competencies to jointly create value for the client and the users.

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  • Data centre architecture

    Working on industry, energy, and data centre projects through many years gives Arkitema a deep understanding of the requirements and possibilities when designing the data centre of tomorrow. We aim to develop customised solutions with a focus on safety, wellbeing and productivity.

MEP at COWI

COWI's expertise in MEP engineering is the culmination of over 20 years in data centre design, delivery and commissioning.

As mission-critical components of our digital lives, data centres not only require always-on reliability for uninterrupted operation but also the flexibility to support growth, future expansion and new, more power-demanding IT needs.

Recognised for designing some of the world’s most energy-efficient data centres, COWI's approach delivers cost savings through operationally efficient and sustainable practices, with an increased focus on stringent efficiency reporting and waste heat re-use.

Our expertise extends to ground-up designs, retrofits and refurbishments, ensuring that every project is optimised for energy efficiency, sustainability and future generations.  

Constant focus on sustainability

At COWI, sustainability is at the core part of work. The focus on sustainability is increasing in all parts of society and data centres are expected to live up to both regulations and ESG-goals from the end-users. While data centre operators have made significant strides towards more sustainable solutions - such as efficiency improvements - European regulations are demanding more.

We specialize in understanding and translating these regulations into actionable solutions. We aim to combine deep environmental impact knowledge with engineering innovation to ensure our customers achieve the best available solutions for the communities of tomorrow.

Our dedication to sustainability extends upstream to greener power provision and carbon capture, including the design of wind farms, solar solutions, and power-to-X renewables and how these technologies can power the datacentres of the future.

Why choose COWI

COWI have more than 90 years of history and has worked with on countless projects especially in the Nordic region, but also with projects and client all over the world. We have a proven record of collaborating with our clients to create outstanding and robust projects – on time and on price.

We strive towards high customer satisfaction when we put our clients at the centre of attention. This is recognized in the fact that almost all of our clients have had multiple projects done by COWI. We focus on the needs and have an effective project management methodology, that ensures good results for all parties.

Learn more

Headquarters

COWI A/S
Parallelvej 2
2800 Kongens Lyngby
Denmark

+45 56 40 00 00

cowi@cowi.com

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