Enabling Australia’s data centre future

Data centres are fast becoming an important part of Australia’s infrastructure, supporting everything from cloud services to the rapid growth of AI. For our alumni, the sector offers an interesting window into how the work of the firm continues to change as technology, infrastructure and investment increasingly intersect.

Australia has significant advantages as the sector grows, including its scale and renewable energy potential. But bringing new data centre projects to life also presents challenges. Access to power, planning and infrastructure constraints, regulation and community expectations can all influence where projects are developed and how quickly they proceed.

For those who have worked at Allens, there may be something familiar in how the firm is approaching these new challenges: bringing together people from different parts of the firm to tackle issues that rarely fit neatly within a single area of expertise.

Today, Allens teams are working with organisations across the data centre sector, including developers and operators, infrastructure investors, capital providers, construction and engineering contractors, and energy and network providers.

The work spans the full lifecycle of a data centre project, from site acquisition, planning and energy access through to investment, financing, construction and operation. Lawyers and specialists across energy, infrastructure, technology, M&A, planning, finance and tax are increasingly working together on the same projects.