Data Centre Quantity Surveying, Commercial Management and Claims

RKA Associates provide quantity surveying, commercial management and claims support on data centre projects: for the mechanical and electrical subcontractors who carry most of the value, for the main contractors managing them, and for the developers and operators paying for them. We work in the UK and internationally, under NEC, JCT, FIDIC and the bespoke contracts many operators now write for themselves.

Why data centre jobs go wrong commercially

The technical work is demanding, but the commercial problems are usually more predictable than the engineering ones. They come from the way these projects are bought and run.

• Speed. Programmes are compressed and packages are let while the design is still moving. Scope changes as the end user's requirements change, often after the price was agreed.
• Value concentrated in M&E. Generators, switchgear, UPS, cooling and the containment and cabling that ties them together carry most of the cost and the longest lead times. Who carries equipment price and delivery risk matters more here than on almost any other kind of job.
• Phased handovers and commissioning. Data halls are handed over in stages and the integrated testing comes at the end, which is exactly where delay caused by others tends to land on the last trade standing.
• Acceleration without an instruction. "Do whatever it takes to hit the date" is not an instruction to accelerate, and the cost of making up someone else's delay is very hard to get paid for without one.
• Bespoke terms. Heavily amended or operator-written contracts with high liquidated damages, tight notice provisions and payment terms that would not survive the Construction Act in the UK, and may be enforceable abroad.

What we do on data centre projects

For M&E and specialist subcontractors: contract review before you sign, monthly applications and change control, variations, change orders and compensation events notified and priced on time, acceleration and disruption claims, final accounts and, when needed, adjudication.

For main contractors: subcontract procurement and administration, change control across packages, delay and disruption analysis, claims to the client and the defence of subcontractor claims.

For developers and operators: procurement strategy and contract selection, cost management and change control during delivery, and independent assessment of contractor claims.

The records that decide data centre claims

On fast projects the side with the better records usually wins, because nobody can reconstruct what happened in hall three in week forty from memory. Confirm every instruction in writing, keep daily labour and access records by area, keep the commissioning logs and equipment delivery records, and keep the programme updated so delay can be shown against it. Our guide to claim records sets out what to keep.

Working on data centres abroad

The build-out is international: Europe, the Middle East and North America all have large programmes under way, and UK contractors and subcontractors follow the work. We support them remotely, with site visits where they add something, and from our Dubai office in the Middle East. See international work.

Data centre questions

Do you work on data centre projects outside the UK?

Yes. We support contractors and subcontractors on data centre projects in Europe, the Middle East and North America, mostly remotely and from our Dubai office in the Middle East, as well as in the UK.

Can you help an M&E subcontractor with a data centre variation or change order dispute?

Yes. That is one of the most common things we are asked to do. We rebuild the change from the instructions and records, value it on the basis the subcontract requires, and negotiate it or, in the UK, take it to adjudication if it cannot be agreed.

Which contracts are used on data centre projects?

In the UK, mostly NEC4 and JCT, often heavily amended. Internationally, FIDIC is common, particularly the Yellow Book for design and build. Many operators now use their own bespoke forms, which is where a contract review before signing is most valuable.

Can you review a data centre subcontract before we sign it?

Yes. We review payment terms, notice provisions and time bars, liquidated damages, design responsibility and set-off, and tell you plainly which clauses carry the risk. Contract reviews are a fixed fee, set out on our fees page.