A group from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) North West Regional Advisory Board recently visited Datum Datacentres' newest data centre in Manchester (MCR2). The tour was arranged in a bid to form a meaningful relationship between the surveying profession and the data centre sector, and forms part of a wider programme to upgrade digital competencies across the existing RICS membership base.
RICS is the global professional body for the built and natural environment, with more than 140,000 members worldwide. It is currently piloting the Data Analytics and Intelligence (MRICS) pathway, a new route to chartered membership for professionals working with data and technology across the built environment. The pathway covers competencies from data governance to cyber security and digital resilience and widens the traditional remit of RICS to expand beyond the built and natural environment to meet the digital space.
The North West Regional Advisory Board is one of the most active of RICS’s twelve regional boards, representing more than 9,000 members. The group of board members toured MCR2 to see first-hand how a modern data centre is designed, secured and operated. That knowledge is increasingly demanded of the surveyors, engineers and advisers who plan, value and deliver digital infrastructure.
Ray Goodier, Chair of RICS North West Advisory Board, said: "Data and the data economy matter enormously to the North West, and our members are asking to understand the buildings behind them. You can't advise on what you haven't seen, and so Datum gave us a working view of an asset class our profession will be engaging with for decades."
Seb Graham, Group Sales Director at Datum, said: "Data centres are often talked about and rarely visited, so it was a pleasure to open MCR2's doors to the profession that helps shape the built environment. As RICS builds new pathways for digital expertise, we're glad to play a part in that learning, and this is the start of a relationship we look forward to continuing."
