RIBA has announced a new collaboration with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to launch a national Data Centre Design Challenge exploring the future of UK data centre design
As the UK accelerates investment in emerging AI and digital technologies, demand for data centres is set to grow significantly in the coming years, creating both a major national infrastructure challenge and a significant design opportunity.
In response, and announced by the Minister for AI and Online Safety, Kanishka Narayan MP at London Tech Week's AI Summit, our Challenge will ask architects, designers, engineers and communities to work together to raise the bar on high-quality design, meaningful public engagement and sustainable environmental outcomes.
The partnership reflects our shared ambition to ensure future UK data centres are sustainable, resilient and well-integrated into their communities, and are recognised not only as critical national infrastructure, but places of genuine civic value.
While the need for data centres is widely recognised, their expansion has also prompted important public debate about energy demand, environmental impact and community integration.
Architects are uniquely well-placed to approach these challenges, helping communities shape development early and ensuring proposals respond sensitively to local context. Effective engagement can reduce opposition, mitigate planning delays and support smoother delivery, while fostering a stronger sense of community ownership.
RIBA President, Chris Williamson, said: “As data centres become increasingly critical to the UK’s economic and technological future, we have a responsibility to consider how they are designed, located and experienced. Data centres will be needed across the country, and this presents a major opportunity for architects to reimagine what they can be, while supporting sector growth.
Through this competition, we want to demonstrate that essential digital infrastructure can also be exemplary architecture - places that support communities and deliver long-term public value.
It is a huge privilege to partner with DSIT on the first government-backed design competition of its kind. Together we can help shape how the UK responds to one of the biggest infrastructure challenges of our time."
Kanishka Narayan MP, Minister for AI and Online Safety, said: "Britain's greatest infrastructure was built with civic ambition - designed not just to function, but to bring pride to the communities it served. Data centres are the infrastructure that will power the next industrial revolution, and they should carry that same sense of purpose.
That's why we're partnering with RIBA on this Design Challenge, the first government-backed competition of its kind. We're calling on architects, designers and engineers to reimagine what data centres can be, creating places communities can be proud to host."
Further details on eligibility, timelines, and criteria will be announced shortly.
