TopTier newsletter - May 2024

This issue has been edited by Marco Nicolai and Sophie Phillips with contributions from the Data Centre's team.

In this edition, we review the shift towards sustainable power solutions from regulations to practical change, the strengthened cybersecurity obligations across some key regions, new Spanish regulations, and colocation agreements. We further look at the increasing challenges for data centre construction and proven tools to address risks. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss any of the issues raised in these articles, or visit our webpage for more information about Bird & Bird’s International Data Centre Group.

We hope you enjoy this first edition and look forward to the next one.

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Powering the future: renewable energy and hydrogen for data centres

Data centres stand as the backbone of modern technology, enabling countless services and applications. However, this exponential growth in digital infrastructure comes with a significant energy demand, despite efficiency improvements in IT hardware and cooling systems. A shift towards sustainable solutions, including renewable energy sources and potentially hydrogen to power these data centres, is necessary.

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For more information, please contact Sibylle Weiler.

New Spanish regulations – mandatory financial guarantees to the access and connectivity permits to develop a data centre in Spain

On 28 December 2023, Royal Decree-Law 8/2023 of 27 December 2023 was published ("Royal Decree-Law 8/2023"). This new provision affects the development of data centres in our country as they are facilities with a significant energy demand.

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For more information, please contact Conchita Sainz and Coral Yáñez.

Data centres and cybersecurity - what to look at from an EU, UK and a Saudi Arabian perspective?

With the increasing focus on data security and network resilience, data centre operators need to be aware of and ready to comply with new strengthened cybersecurity obligations. We are witnessing a trend of increasing regulation in this area, with EU Member States now working on the transposition of the NIS2 Directive into their local laws. The updated EU cybersecurity regime will apply from 18 October 2024 and has a direct impact on data centres. We a brief overview of the key elements and how to prepare for it. We also cover developments in the UK and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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For more information, please contact Anthony Rosen, Simon Shooter, Dr. Natallia Karniyevich and Hayley Blyth.

Colocation – lease or licence?

One of the oldest questions when looking at the occupation of property is whether an agreement between two parties constitutes a lease or a licence to occupy.

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For more information, please contact Andrew Stobbart.

Early contractor involvement (ECI) to de-risk the construction of data centres

Generally, when considering what the definition of a successful project (such as a data centre) is, it is a project that is completed: on time, within budget, in line with the specifications and without disputes.

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For more information, please contact Andrea Chao and Marco Nicolai.

Utilising collaborative contracts to increase a successful delivery of data centres

In our previous article we touched upon a range of challenges we are currently seeing on the development of data centres. We also touched upon how Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) can be adopted to address such challenges. There are also other legal tools that can be utilised. In this article we will touch upon the legal tool referred to as ‘collaborative contracting’.

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For more information, please contact Andrea Chao.