Data centres

Our planning and development team advises on data centre approvals across every Australian jurisdiction, including NSW State Significant Development applications, EIS, and the Investment Delivery Authority fast-track process, alongside constraints analysis, stakeholder engagement, and approvals for associated infrastructure such as substations, transmission, and BESS.

Our energy specialists cover the full spectrum of energy issues facing data centre developers, including grid connection and development agreements, power purchase agreements, embedded network regulation, BESS co-location and market participation, renewable energy procurement, transmission network funding obligations, and compliance with AEMC and NEM rules.

We act for buyers and sellers on acquisitions, divestments, hostile takeover defence, sale and leaseback, land banking and site acquisition, infrastructure REIT structuring, IPO and prospectus advice, FIRB approvals, and data centre-specific due diligence - having advised on landmark deals including the A$224m acquisition of Asia Pacific Data Centres and the A$1.03bn Metronode/Equinix transaction.

Our regulatory team has deep experience across the critical infrastructure regime affecting data centres, including Security of Critical Infrastructure (SOCI) Act compliance, the Commonwealth Expectations framework for social licence and approvals prioritisation, the Hosting Certification Framework and DTA Data Centre Panel, mandatory NABERS Energy ratings for federal work, and FIRB foreign investment approvals.

For hyperscale campuses and data centre developments, we support the full financing stack, including debt structuring and loan documentation, tax-effective project vehicles and depreciation strategies, pre-lease and anchor customer arrangements, infrastructure fund investment structuring, and development and construction facility financing.

Our construction lawyers support the full contract suite for data centre developments, including EPC and D&C contracts, head agreements, fit-out procurement and commissioning agreements, modular and prefabricated construction models, ICT supply and hardware maintenance arrangements, and supply chain risk allocation and contractor management.

Operators and their customers rely on our technology, data and cyber team for colocation and hosting agreements, data sovereignty and Privacy Act compliance, cybersecurity frameworks such as SOCI, ISO 27001, Essential 8 and SOC 2, government customer compliance and Hosting Certification, and embedded network regulation within data centres.

We help data centre clients navigate evolving ESG and sustainability requirements, including mandatory climate-related financial disclosure under the Treasury Laws Amendment Act, NGER compliance, water usage frameworks and PUE/WUE thresholds, renewable energy certificate procurement and green energy structuring, and GRESB and UN PRI alignment.

When disputes or government engagement arise, our team acts on planning appeals and Land and Environment Court proceedings, Parliamentary inquiry submissions and representation, grid connection and development agreement disputes, regulatory enforcement and compliance disputes, and government relations and policy engagement strategies - including on the ongoing NSW Parliamentary inquiry due to report in September 2026.