A new frontier in construction investments: Data Centres and technical factors affecting risk profile

Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering Department (ABC) Politecnico di Milano, Italy  

^* Corresponding author: {alberto.celani@polimi.it, stefano.bellintani@polimi.it, andrea.ciaramella@polimi.it}

Abstract

The interest of Construction investors towards Data Centres is a novelty that however is not supported by an adequate level of knowledge of the technical characteristics that distinguish this particular building type. In fact, these are complex buildings, which are rarely dealt with in the literature (real estate and construction) and very different from the typical asset class of the real estate market, for which it requires a very high level of specialization. From an investor's point of view, although there are some reference standards that define some minimum quality standards, we need to widen our attention, focusing on all the technical / technological factors that influence the business model. The paper deals with this problem, trying to identify the different elements that influence the risk profile of the investment (thus omitting risk factors of another kind) and structuring them in clusters. Specifically, the paper focuses on the cost factors (passive cycle of the business model) that accompany the investment or the real estate asset “data centres” in its life cycle.