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Only if they expand more than headcount. The data-center boom is testing AEC firms on two linked capacities: enough mission-critical designers and builders to deliver projects, and enough planning, coordination and electrical expertise to connect rapidly changing loads to reliable infrastructure. A 2017 Building Design + Construction report described a shortage of qualified people and warned that construction could fall behind demand. The latest U.S. electricity figures show why the question remains urgent: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), in a 2025 update hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy, estimates that data centers used 192 TWh in 2024, 4.7% of national electricity consumption, and models 649 TWh in 2030 in its reference case. That 2030 number is a forecast, not an observed outcome, and electricity demand alone does not prove that AEC staffing or delivery capacity will be adequate.
What “wattage” means for an AEC firm
In this question, wattage is a useful metaphor rather than a staffing metric. AEC firms need sufficient technical capacity to design, permit, build, commission and adapt data centers while electrical loads, tenants and schedules keep changing. A firm can have a full project roster yet lack the specific experience needed for medium-voltage distribution, backup generation, cooling, controls, commissioning and phased turnover in a mission-critical environment.
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The original question appeared in a Building Design + Construction article by senior editor John Caulfield on August 28, 2017. Michael Silla, then identified as senior vice president of Skanska USA’s Mission Critical Center of Excellence, said AEC firms did not have enough designers and builders for the pace of data-center growth. He described moving technical builders from other sectors into data-center design and construction. His warning was blunt: “Disruption is moving at such a pace that data center construction might not be able to keep up.”
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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallThat statement was an attributed industry view, not a quantified survey of the entire AEC market. No source establishes a current national count of available data-center designers, builders or commissioning specialists. The defensible conclusion is narrower: the sector has a documented capability risk, and the risk grows when projects accelerate or change scope after work has started.
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What the 2017 market snapshot actually showed
The 2017 article used JLL figures to illustrate how quickly the North American pipeline was moving at that time. Those figures are valuable for understanding the pressure described by Silla, but they are not current market readings.
| Measure | Reported value | How to interpret it |
|---|---|---|
| North American capacity under construction, first half of 2017 | 506 MW | JLL figure reported by Building Design + Construction; a historical snapshot |
| North American capacity under construction, first half of 2016 | 353 MW | JLL figure reported in the same 2017 article; the year-over-year comparison is historical |
| U.S. absorption in 2016 | More than 350 MW | JLL measure cited by the article; not a current absorption estimate |
| Canadian absorption in 2016 | 46 MW | JLL measure cited by the article; not a current absorption estimate |
| Typical build duration cited in 2017 | Six to eight months | An article-era description, not a universal or current schedule benchmark |
The same article cited a then-future estimate of 73 billion kWh of data-center electricity use by 2020, said to be 3 billion kWh above 2014. That projection is now dated and should not be used to describe present consumption. Its value here is historical: even before the latest acceleration in computing demand, industry observers were connecting power growth with a need for more delivery capacity.
How the electricity outlook has changed
LBNL’s 2025 update to the U.S. Data Center Energy Usage Report provides the current context. It estimates 192 TWh of U.S. data-center electricity use in 2024, equal to 4.7% of total U.S. electricity consumption. Its reference case models 649 TWh in 2030. The 2030 figure is a scenario output; actual demand could be higher or lower depending on computing growth, efficiency, facility utilization, grid conditions and the pace at which projects receive power.
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| Source and date | Period | Electricity figure | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| LBNL update hosted by DOE, 2025 | 2024 | 192 TWh; 4.7% of U.S. electricity consumption | Estimated historical use |
| LBNL update hosted by DOE, 2025 | 2030 | 649 TWh in the reference case | Modeled forecast, not an observed result |
| LBNL report summarized by DOE, December 20, 2024 | 2023 | 176 TWh | Earlier estimate superseded for current context by the 2025 update |
| LBNL report summarized by DOE, December 20, 2024 | 2028 | 325–580 TWh | Earlier scenario range; the later update should anchor present discussion |
These numbers answer the “wattage” part of the question, not the labor question. More electricity demand creates more projects and more complex interconnections, but it does not automatically reveal whether enough architects, engineers, construction managers, electricians, controls specialists or commissioning agents are available in a particular region.
Where AEC capacity is most likely to break
Specialized mission-critical talent
Data centers require overlapping disciplines that must work to a common reliability and commissioning plan. Firms need people who understand electrical distribution, generators, uninterruptible power systems, cooling plants, fire protection, security, controls, networking spaces, structural loading and operational handover. Experience in one sector can transfer, but the transfer has to be deliberate. Silla said his organization was moving technical builders from other sectors into data-center work; that approach expands the pool without pretending that every construction professional is immediately ready for mission-critical delivery.
Electrical and utility coordination
A facility may be physically ready while its utility service, substation work, protection study, fuel systems or backup generation sequence is not. AEC teams must coordinate utility requirements, owner standards, equipment lead times, site civil work and commissioning evidence early enough to avoid making energization the last unresolved dependency. The latest electricity outlook makes this coordination more consequential, but it does not eliminate local constraints such as interconnection queues or transmission availability.
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Changing tenant requirements
The 2017 article described a Phoenix project that was nearing completion as it signed a new customer requiring different space arrangements. The example shows why a drawing set can become obsolete even when construction is on schedule. Changes can affect rack density, white-space layout, cooling distribution, power paths, fire protection, security zoning and testing scripts. The risk is not simply rework; late changes can disturb the sequence needed to prove redundancy and operational performance.
Compressed schedules and volatile scopes
The six-to-eight-month build description in the article came with a warning that volatility and changing tenant requirements could make schedules less predictable. A current project team should therefore treat that duration as an historical illustration, not a promised delivery window. The shorter the planned schedule, the more work must move into front-end definition, procurement tracking, prefabrication decisions and integrated commissioning planning.
The delivery practices the article put forward
Engage the client before design is fixed
Silla argued that firms should become involved earlier and move from builder to partner. In his words, “We need to transfer from being a builder to being a trusted advisor.” Early engagement lets the AEC team test growth assumptions, phase capacity, utility milestones, maintainability, security boundaries and tenant flexibility before those decisions are embedded in expensive work.
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Plan around change, not an idealized final brief
Planning was identified as the key to on-time, on-budget delivery. For a data center, planning should include explicit decision dates for load assumptions, equipment selections, utility interfaces, tenant fit-out boundaries and commissioning stages. It should also identify which elements can change without redesigning the entire facility.
Use modular and scalable design where it fits
The article reported a move toward more modular and scalable designs, with more flexible treatment of load predictability and infrastructure needs. Modularity can allow repeatable electrical rooms, cooling modules or phased white-space expansion, but it is not a guarantee of faster delivery. The team still has to verify interfaces, transportation, factory quality, field connections and the testing sequence for each added block.
Increase coordination frequency
More frequent coordination is a response to changing requirements, not a substitute for decisions. Owners, designers, contractors, equipment suppliers, utilities and commissioning authorities need a shared record of assumptions and revisions. The practical test is whether a change in tenant load or room layout immediately exposes its effects on power, cooling, structure, fire protection, controls, cost and schedule.
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A practical capacity test for an AEC team
Because no source provides a universal staffing ratio, owners should evaluate a proposed team against the actual project rather than ask whether a firm is “large enough.” The following screen turns the article’s themes into decision points.
- Map the critical systems. List incoming utility service, medium-voltage and low-voltage distribution, generators, UPS equipment, cooling, controls, fire protection, security, structural systems and network spaces. Assign an accountable design and construction lead to each system.
- Check mission-critical experience. Ask for comparable project roles, not just company totals: design authority, electrical lead, superintendent, controls lead, commissioning lead and operations handover responsibility. Confirm which people will actually be assigned.
- Test transfer plans. If staff are moving from another sector, define training, mentoring, review gates and the point at which they can make independent decisions. A transfer can add capacity, but unmanaged transfer adds supervision burden.
- Set an early client-programming workshop. Resolve target IT load, growth phases, redundancy philosophy, maintainability, security and tenant-change rules before detailed design advances.
- Model change scenarios. Run at least one late tenant change, one equipment substitution and one utility milestone slip through the schedule and design. Record cost, procurement and commissioning consequences.
- Integrate procurement and commissioning. Long-lead electrical and mechanical equipment, factory testing, delivery access, installation, energization and integrated systems testing belong in one logic network, not separate schedules.
- Define evidence for turnover. Specify the inspections, test scripts, trend data, training records, as-builts and operating procedures required before occupancy or phased handover.
How to compare delivery approaches without overstating the evidence
The 2017 reporting did not rank firms or prove that one delivery model consistently outperforms another. It did identify useful comparison axes. Owners can use them as questions, not as a validated scoring system.
| Comparison axis | Questions to ask | What a strong answer demonstrates |
|---|---|---|
| Talent capacity and transferability | Who has mission-critical experience, and how will transferred staff be supported? | Named roles, realistic supervision and a documented capability-building plan |
| Timing of client engagement | Which decisions are made before schematic design and procurement? | Early programming of load, phasing, maintainability and tenant flexibility |
| Coordination under change | How are design, cost, schedule and testing impacts recorded after a requirement changes? | A frequent, integrated change process with clear decision ownership |
| Schedule flexibility | What happens if a utility date or long-lead item moves? | Alternatives, float and resequencing options that preserve safe testing |
| Modularity and scalability | Which systems can be repeated or expanded without compromising interfaces? | Defined module boundaries and verified factory-to-field integration |
| Load and infrastructure planning | How are uncertain future loads represented in the design? | Explicit assumptions, expansion provisions and utility coordination |
What the answer means for owners and project leaders
AEC firms can meet a charged-up data-center sector, but not by treating demand as a simple request for more labor hours. Capacity is a system: specialized people, early decisions, utility knowledge, repeatable details, procurement control, change management and commissioning discipline. A firm that adds staff without improving those connections may increase activity while leaving the project’s real bottlenecks untouched.
For owners, the warning signs are concrete: key roles are unnamed; the utility interface is left to late design; tenant assumptions are undocumented; the schedule shows construction but not integrated testing; or a modular strategy is described without interface control. Conversely, a credible plan explains who makes each technical decision, when the decision is frozen, how a change is priced and sequenced, and what evidence proves the facility works.
The electricity outlook raises the stakes. LBNL’s estimate of 192 TWh in 2024 and reference-case 649 TWh in 2030 indicate a much larger modeled demand trajectory than the pre-2020 discussion in the 2017 article. They do not establish that every market will experience the same growth, that every project will be built, or that AEC firms will face a uniform labor shortage. They do establish why owners, utilities and delivery teams should treat capacity planning as a strategic issue rather than a late-stage staffing adjustment.
Verdict
The evidence supports a qualified yes: AEC firms can supply the wattage needed for data-center growth when they build capacity in people and process at the same time. The 2017 warning about insufficient designers and builders remains a useful description of delivery risk, while the 2025 LBNL outlook shows why the consequences of that risk are becoming larger. The firms best positioned to keep pace will be those that engage clients early, develop transferable mission-critical talent, coordinate more frequently, design for controlled change and plan electrical and infrastructure dependencies before construction begins.
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