Craig Blankers,

The data centre landscape in Africa is changing. What was once considered a peripheral market is now attracting global attention, with projections showing the industry is on track to nearly double in value, reaching $6.81 billion by 2030. This growth is being fuelled by accelerated digitisation, expanding artificial intelligence (AI) use cases, and a rising demand for cloud infrastructure across both the public and private sectors.

This rapid expansion is forcing a rethink of how infrastructure is designed and delivered. It is putting new focus on the importance of flexibility not as a nice-to-have, but as a baseline requirement. In markets where energy constraints, regulatory evolution, and uneven growth persist, clients require facilities that can respond not only to immediate pressures but to long-term uncertainties with built-in resilience.

We see flexibility as a strategic design decision – one that starts long before construction. It means understanding how user needs are shifting, how regulations are tightening, and how to build spaces that can evolve with minimal to no disruption. Modularity plays a role, but true flexibility is about foresight.

A market defined by pace and pressure

Data consumption across Africa is accelerating. From fintech and e-commerce to streaming, healthcare and government services, digital platforms and the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) are creating unprecedented demand for local data hosting. According to Statista, Africa’s data centre revenue is expected to maintain double-digit growth through 2028. This means new builds are rising across major cities like Johannesburg, Nairobi, Lagos, and Accra. However, across the region, the sector still faces constraints around power, water, permitting, and skills.

It is in this context that design flexibility becomes essential. Whether navigating policy updates, water scarcity or power cuts and load-shedding risks, infrastructure must be built to adapt. This includes anticipating future IT load increases, planning for efficient retrofits, and accommodating evolving sustainability regulations. According to the Africa Data Centre Association’s 2023 report, operators are under growing pressure to align with Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) goals and localise more of their procurement and operations. Design must allow for this progression.

Engineering responsiveness into every layer

In our experience, flexibility by design touches nearly every aspect of a data centre - from site selection and energy modelling to mechanical systems, resilience protocols, and long-term maintenance. With the rapid advent of AI, capacity requirements to enable future scalability are much more intensive than they were less than a year ago. By adopting an integrated approach that considers scaling for AI from the outset, each layer of the data centre can be designed to evolve with business needs.

Rapid shifts in technologies and client expectations are challenging conventional engineering timelines. Clients increasingly want plug-and-play, scalable facilities that allow for delayed capital expenditure while futureproofing long-term growth.

This has seen our teams implement modular UPS and cooling systems, flexible floor plans, phased buildouts, and digital twins that monitor performance in real-time. To enable resilient data centres that are AI capable – which are well known for being resource intensive – we also continue to push for lower energy usage effectiveness (PUE), greater integration of renewables, local sourcing and improved water-use efficiency, all of which require smart, adaptive engineering.

Local context, global execution

Our Centre of Excellence in South Africa plays a key role in delivering world-class outcomes within Africa’s unique constraints. We support both hyperscale and colocation providers, helping them design and deliver data centres that meet international benchmarks while accounting for local conditions, be it soil constraints, grid unreliability, or local labour mandates.

This model allows us to deploy best practices while continuously learning from Africa’s operating environments. We integrate global digital workflows, extensive data governance, and detailed risk modelling into every engagement. We invest in local talent and source from local supply chains, support knowledge transfer, and ensure that every project reflects the lived realities of African environments.

Flexibility as a strategic imperative

Data centres are resource- and capital-intensive, but they are also long-term assets. The ones that will remain competitive in Africa’s fast-evolving markets are those designed for resilience whether it is regarding their power profiles and cooling demands or their ability to adapt to regulatory shifts and client mix.

We approach flexibility not as a feature, but as a design requirement. Our teams work across disciplines (engineering, architecture, and sustainability) to build facilities that consider the capacity impacts of technologies like AI from the outset, allowing them to scale and respond to change without downtime. That might mean planning for phased expansion, ensuring compatibility with on-site renewables, or navigating region-specific compliance issues like data sovereignty.

We also understand that engineering expertise alone is not enough. Building the right facilities for African contexts requires local insight, practical experience, and the ability to transfer skills and knowledge on the ground. What sets successful, resilient facilities apart is not just how they perform today, but how well they are prepared for what comes next.

Infrastructure for long-term relevance

Africa’s growing digital economy must be matched by infrastructure decisions that are equally forward-looking. Data centre capacity alone is not the full picture. How facilities are designed, powered, scaled, and maintained will determine their long-term relevance.

This is especially true in markets where energy costs are high, power stability is variable, and new regulations are emerging around sustainability and data sovereignty. We are helping clients plan not just for go-live, but for the full lifecycle of adaptation and optimisation.

WSP in Africa is hiring! To find out more about available opportunities, check out the Careers page on our website or look out for updates on our LinkedIn page, @WSPinAfrica.

Craig Blankers, Regional Director for WSP in Africa