Why Data Centres belong in the built environment

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WHY DATA CENTRES BELONG IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Key insights:

• Data centres are now critical components of the built environment and must be planned as such.
• Essential services like healthcare and education rely on resilient digital infrastructure.
• Climate change is challenging traditional data centre design assumptions.
• Regenerative approaches can reduce impact and support local infrastructure.

What are built environments in 2025? Most people picture roads, housing estates, and office blocks. But this traditional view is no longer enough.

There's a growing infrastructure layer that's just as critical: data centres. Every digital transaction and online interaction depends on these facilities. 

Demand for digital infrastructure is accelerating rapidly, driven by AI, cloud computing, and smart devices. This surge has led to unprecedented growth in the construction of data centres worldwide, making them one of the most significant additions to our physical infrastructure in recent years.

They are a crucial physical infrastructure that requires the same engineering consideration as any major building project, yet they are often overlooked in built environment discussions.
As climate risks intensify and digital dependency increases, professionals must recognise data centres as part of the built environment. 

What are built environments in a digital economy?

Built environments have always evolved with technology. The introduction of electricity transformed building design. The widespread adoption of cars reshaped urban planning. Now, digital technology marks the next major change.

To support this shift, the built environment must be redefined to integrate the infrastructure that enables digital services. Fibre networks, telecommunications masts, and data centres form the backbone of the digital economy. While they may seem like abstract cloud services, they are in fact physical assets - with real-world consequences when things go wrong.

A hyperscale data centre can span a vast amount of land, draw significant power from local grids, and require millions of litres of water daily for cooling. Globally, data centres already account for approximately 1% of electricity usage - and that figure is projected to increase over time.

These facilities generate heat, create traffic, and place pressure on public infrastructure - requiring planning permissions, environmental assessments, and resilient infrastructure connections just like any major development.

Designing these facilities is just as complex. Site selection demands careful assessment of power availability, cooling needs, and network connectivity. Structures must support large-scale equipment loads and factor in seismic resilience. And MEP systems must be engineered for exceptional reliability under extreme thermal and power loads.

So really, what is a built environment without acknowledging these systems? It's an incomplete picture that ignores critical infrastructure supporting modern society. At RED, we apply the same rigour, resilience, and sustainability standards to data centres as we do to any other mission-critical infrastructure - because in today’s built environment, they are.

How does the built environment affect health in a world where digital systems are essential?

Built environment design directly influences health outcomes through air quality, noise levels, access to services, and community connectivity. These relationships are well-established in planning and engineering practice.

Healthcare increasingly depends on digital infrastructure. Everything from electronic health records to emergency response coordination requires reliable data centre operations. When digital infrastructure fails, health services can be severely disrupted.

Similarly, educational access, social services, and emergency communications depend on data centre reliability. Digital infrastructure has become essential to community health and resilience.

Yet data centres also create direct environmental impacts. Energy use can disrupt local grid stability, water-intensive cooling systems may impact community resources, and waste heat and equipment noise pose challenges to surrounding areas.

If we treat data centres merely as technical facilities, we ignore their significance as part of the built environment. They are infrastructure projects that require the same environmental and community considerations as hospitals or schools.

At RED, this challenge is met through our integrated data centre design strategy. We utilise resilient MEP systems, efficient cooling strategies, and whole-life carbon assessment and reporting to ensure our digital infrastructure supports essential services without compromising environmental quality or community wellbeing.

What is the built environment’s role in designing climate-resilient data centres?

Climate change is redefining infrastructure design requirements across all sectors. Traditional data centre design assumes stable environmental conditions and abundant resources - an assumption that is becoming less reliable as climate change intensifies. 

Heatwaves can overwhelm cooling systems; floods can damage equipment; drought can restrict water supplies; and power grids stressed by extreme weather can fail. As climate risks rise, a key question emerges: what are built environments that can support both physical and digital resilience? Data centres must be part of that answer.

As part of the built environment, data centres must be designed to adapt to and support changing local conditions. Forward-thinking data centres can enhance the environments they occupy through regenerative design principles. 

Regenerative design strategies are increasingly being explored in data centre development - but their impact depends on how well they’re integrated into the local environment:

• Efficient cooling systems can significantly reduce water usage and ease pressure on surrounding infrastructure.
• Heat recovery from IT equipment can be redirected to serve nearby buildings or contribute to future district energy networks.
• Battery storage, while primarily installed for resilience, can be configured to support grid stability during non-critical periods.
• On-site renewable generation can supplement the facility’s energy supply and reduce reliance on the grid, particularly during peak demand.

We've written more about these strategies in our article on transforming data centres into eco-friendly hubs, where we explore how heat recovery, grid integration, and sustainable materials can help reshape the role of digital infrastructure in the built environment.

Our approach treats data centres as integrated community assets that must perform reliably and contribute to local systems whilst delivering digital services.

Building for the future means building for both people and data

In today’s world, the built environment must account for both physical and digital infrastructure. Data centres enable the services we depend on - they belong in built environment planning and regulation.

At RED Engineering Design, we approach data centre design as both a technical and environmental challenge. Our teams bring together deep technical knowledge in critical systems, planning, and sustainability - ensuring data centres perform to the highest standards while supporting the communities around them.

Building resilient digital infrastructure into the built environment

Your built environment strategy needs digital infrastructure that’s resilient, efficient, and future-ready. We can help. Contact Red Engineering to talk to a specialist and start planning digital infrastructure that works today and tomorrow.