‘Hunger Games For Electricians’: Doxel’s Reid Senescu At Bisnow’s UK Data Centre Conference

By 2028, the data centre market across the United Kingdom is expected to see its value grow by more than $4B, totalling nearly $19B. Investors and developers are eager to make their mark on one of Europe’s largest and most promising data centre markets.  

Driven largely by the need for more IT infrastructure and heightened demand for artificial intelligence, the data centre industry is facing an unprecedented period of expansion. How to ensure timely and seamless product delivery is one of the industry’s persisting questions, and one to which California-based technology firm Doxel has the answer, said Reid Senescu, vice president of product at the company. He said that Doxel is harnessing the power of AI to build AI with its automated construction progress tracking solution.

“Those coming into the data centre construction space are putting a lot of emphasis on data during construction,” said Senescu. “The industry is evolving so quickly, they need real-time data to create really quick feedback loops that enable them to adapt to changes happening in the field.”

Senescu will be speaking at Bisnow's UK Data Centre Investment Conference and Expo on April 25. Register here.

Bisnow spoke with Senescu to learn more about the trends he’s seeing across the industry, how new technology solutions are rapidly changing the industry and what inspired him to speak at this event.

Bisnow: What are some trends you've seen across Europe and the U.S. in data centre construction?

Senescu: The desire to build fast is trending, even if it means spending a little bit more on construction. The demand is so high right now that owners will see a profit shortly after building. This puts a lot of pressure on the construction teams who need to get these data centres online. Execution is key, so data centre builders are hiring from project controls departments in manufacturing. These folks expect to get objective, fast production rate data tied to schedule so that they can respond quickly and deliver their data centres faster to get to profitability faster.

Bisnow: In light of the need for speed in data centre construction, how are owners and general contractors responding? What are the most critical factors to optimise development and operational processes in data centre construction?

Senescu: The data centre space is growing like crazy. What that means is that there's more people coming into the data centre business that don't have too much experience in the industry. Similarly, the most experienced construction workers are retiring, so there continues to be a challenge recruiting new people. 

Owners and contractors focus on three things to keep their data centre construction projects on time or even accelerate them. 

The first is that they're really focused on making great decisions. There's just not a lot of leeway for mistakes. They don't have time to rework their schedules. They need to avoid inefficiencies within their construction teams and inefficiencies of collaboration between their trade partners. 

The second is that data centre construction is not always in regional markets where there's a lot of access to labor. It's like the Hunger Games for electricians out there. The project with the production rate data to make a case for more labor is the project that gets the labor they need to be on time, and that builder gets to operation of their data centre faster. Then, the hyperscalers do repeat business with those builders.

Finally, the best builders recognise that not everything always goes according to plan. They need to be adaptive to things that they can't predict. Design changes are very common in the data centre space because there's always new technology being unveiled. When changes happen, owners need to have a detailed understanding of the current state of construction progress so they can make agile decisions on how to stay on track.

Bisnow: How should the data centre industry think about evaluating AI and technology solutions for construction?

Senescu: What's great about the data centre space is that everyone is driven around the same goals. They want to deliver their projects quickly and of utmost quality. They’re generally tech-minded individuals willing to grab at the best technology to help them with their jobs. But on the same page, they don't have time to mess around. If the technology doesn't work, they're going to drop it. 

When companies are looking at evaluating technology, they should make sure they really understand how much time it is going to take to set up, making sure they’re not setting up for an entire month of a 12-month project. Technology should also work within their existing workflows. Data should be able to be sliced and diced so that it fits into their existing workflows. That's going to drive adoption from their entire team. No one has time to create workflows around technology. The technology needs to adapt to your workflows.

Simply put, technology must do what it says it's going to do. It needs to actually be accurate in measuring progress. It’s vital to verify that technology products measure progress as they proclaim. Don’t adopt a technology product if the vendor is not willing to provide you with great references within the same space you’re in.

Bisnow: What inspired you to speak at Bisnow’s Data Centre Investment Conference?

Senescu: Attendees of the DICE data centre events are all brilliant people. They’re adaptable, proactive and willing to roll with the punches. It’s an exciting space to operate.

When we go to these events, we often see many customers of ours and many future customers. I always learn new things about how our customers are using our products, and more often than you'd think, there are future customers closely listening in. These events act as a gathering space for all of us to get together and delve further not only into our product but into the current state of the industry as a whole.

This article was produced in collaboration between Doxel and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.