Matt Evans, CEO at Lennox Data Centre Solutions
As data centres scale to handle AI workloads and ultra-high-density computing, cooling systems are being pushed harder than ever. Cooling alone can eat up nearly 40% of a facility’s total energy use.
But here’s the thing: the difference between a project that flies and one that fails isn’t just the tech. It’s the way we engineer and deliver it.
That’s why the future of cooling has to be engineering-led and collaborative. Not “you give me money, I give you kit,” but a genuine ecosystem approach where everyone works together from the very first conversation.
This means we’re not just building hardware. We’re designing around real-world challenges.
How do we get the equipment off the lorry and into the building? Can we pre-commission in the factory to cut install time? Can we make assembly so simple you don’t need an army of specialists on site, or a ‘special tool’ to put it together?
When you engineer with logistics, installation, maintenance and lifecycle in mind, you don’t just save time and money. You avoid the chaos that’s become rife in our industry.
The industry reality
Let’s be honest, the sector is in flux. AI is rewriting design requirements at a pace that’s breaking traditional planning cycles. Rack power density has gone from 10-15kW to 600kW in a decade, and no one knows if we’ll hit 1,000kW next year or next month.
Add to that a shrinking talent pool (half of data centre operators are struggling to get top talent in the door) and an influx of “overnight experts” that are appearing in every corner of the internet, and you’ve got a volatile environment.
This is where engineering-led thinking really counts. It’s clear that the industry needs to learn to pivot fast without cutting any corners, and building flexible, modular frameworks – think industrial Lego – means we can adapt quickly without completely starting from scratch.
Big manufacturers often struggle with this because a small change triggers a mountain of re-certifications. But parametric systems don’t just adapt to today’s needs; they cut weeks off the design cycle because every configuration is pre-engineered and pre-tested.
Engineering you can count on
You can’t promise your customers that the whole project will go smoothly – anyone who does is selling fairy tales. But you can do everything on your side to guarantee that your part will be rock solid.
For us, that means always thinking two steps ahead: spotting problems before they appear, designing systems that slot seamlessly into place and making sure every stakeholder knows exactly what’s happening and when.
That’s the real differentiator. Not the loudest marketing claim, the glossiest brochure or ‘reinventing the wheel’, but the fact that when the pressure’s on, your kit performs, your team delivers and every “what if” has already been factored in.
I like to say that we’re literally joined at the hip. And because we work as an ecosystem, not in silos, we can engineer solutions around real-world constraints: how the equipment gets into the building, how quickly it can be assembled and whether it can be pre-commissioned in the factory.
By connecting manufacturers, contractors and operators from the start, every handover is smoother and surprises on site become virtually non-existent. This approach reduces installation time, minimises risk and, most importantly, takes uncertainty out of the equation.
Tomorrow’s challenges, solved today
From the noise in the industry around liquid cooling and sustainability, to the uncertainty in global supply chains, it’s clear that these are all symptoms of the same underlying challenge: the world we are building for today won’t be the world we operate in tomorrow.
But in this environment, the winners won’t be the ones shouting the loudest about “innovation” in their announcements and on their LinkedIn profiles. They’ll be the teams that engineer for resilience and adaptability from day one.
That means cooling systems designed with parametric flexibility, modular frameworks that can be reconfigured without re-certification headaches, and installation plans that anticipate logistical, operational and maintenance challenges before the first unit ships.
Does anyone really know what’s coming next? No, of course they don’t. Because here’s the truth: building for today is already behind schedule. It’s like designing a car that goes 500 mph, then saying, “Well, nobody’s built tyres for it yet – but that’s not our problem.” That’s where we are right now.
The only way to future-proof a data centre is to bake that adaptability into its DNA – from design to delivery – so that when the industry shifts again (and trust me, it will), you’re ready to pivot without missing a beat.
By designing for adaptability from day one, we give our customers more than hardware; they gain certainty, efficiency and the freedom to scale confidently, no matter what the future holds. That’s engineering-led cooling in action: solving today’s problems and preparing for tomorrow’s unknowns.
