At 5,280 feet, Denver air carries roughly a sixth less mass than air at sea level, and every fan, coil, generator and air-cooled chiller in a data hall feels it. Equipment rated at sea level delivers less capacity here unless it is selected with an altitude factor, and a design that missed that factor shows up as a cooling shortfall during the first integrated test. We build data halls in Colorado with that number stated on the first mechanical drawing.
A data center is a building whose purpose is to keep electrical and mechanical systems running without interruption, so the construction question is how to deliver those systems into a shell with tight tolerances, clean conditions and a hard handover date. We work from an owner's tier and topology: the power path, the cooling path, the density per rack and the phasing plan. Our job is to turn that design into slab, structure, envelope, and rooms that are ready for the commissioning agent.
Owners range from enterprise teams adding a hall to an existing campus to developers delivering powered shells for tenants. We build for both, and the contract structure follows the risk: a shell-and-core build is straightforward lump sum, while a fully fitted hall is better delivered with early procurement and a guaranteed maximum price. Support infrastructure is a separate scope covered under data center support buildings.
Code editions and the local reviewer
Colorado does not have a single statewide commercial code, so the site's jurisdiction determines what the plan reviewer expects. The Home Builders Association of Metro Denver tracker dated January 20, 2026 shows Adams County, Arvada and Castle Rock on the 2018 I-codes, Aurora and Arapahoe County on 2021, and Boulder, Golden and Cherry Hills Village on 2024. Denver adopted new building and fire codes on June 13, 2025, based on the 2024 International Building Code, with a transition period of about six months. We verify the edition at the parcel before design and build the code analysis around it.
Two items deserve early meetings with the building and fire departments. The first is the energy code: HB22-1362 requires any local government updating its building code on or after July 1, 2023 to adopt an energy code with performance at least equal to the 2021 IECC, and the state low energy and carbon code becomes the benchmark from July 1, 2026. The second is fire protection: clean-agent, preaction and early-warning smoke detection systems for the data halls, and the fuel storage rules for generators. We bring the fire marshal in during schematic design.
Sites, interconnects and corridors
Power, fiber and land decide where data centers go, and large Colorado parcels near interstate access are the place to start. Aurora Highlands, a roughly 4,000-acre development southeast of Denver, gained a full E-470 interchange at Exit 22 for $87 million that opened June 28, 2024. Sites of that scale give a developer room for multiple halls and the substation that serves them, and the highway access shortens equipment delivery routes. We evaluate such sites the way an owner would: haul route, grading balance, flood and drainage, and utility corridors.
The airport corridor is another category. The Denver International Airport area and Aurora both offer large parcels with interstate and toll-road access, and the site work trade partners we schedule can deliver the pad, utilities and drainage while the design completes. A site walk with us before land purchase covers soils, utilities, flood zones and local review timelines.
Shell, hall and rooms
The shell is usually tilt-wall or precast, with a roof designed for heavy rooftop equipment and the hail exposure that comes with the Front Range. Denver ranks 10th among U.S. areas of at least 50,000 people for hailstorm risk, so roof assembly and equipment screening matter for insurability. The slab is thick and flat, with embedded conduit, equipment pads and trenches where the design calls for them. The tilt-wall construction trade crews cast and erect the walls, and we coordinate openings for ducts, louvers and equipment access early.
Inside, the work covers fire-rated partitions, raised floor or slab-based cable and containment systems, power rooms, battery rooms, the cooling plant interface, and the meet-me and telecommunications spaces. Mechanical and electrical subcontractors carry most of the dollars, and we manage their sequence, clean conditions and testing. An industry such as data centers expects a controlled turnover, which we deliver with a room-by-room readiness list.
Procurement-driven scheduling
Long-lead electrical and cooling equipment decides the schedule. Switchgear, transformers, generators and chillers must be ordered in preconstruction, with delivery dates tied to building readiness. We create a procurement register that shows each item's order date, factory acceptance test, delivery date and set date. If any date slips, the register shows the consequences before they reach the field.
Utility service is the other long pole. The utility's design and construction of the substation or service can run longer than the building. We track it with the same discipline, and we plan for temporary power and cooling during commissioning. For owners with several halls across a campus or across sites, a repeat design delivered through multi-site rollouts lets the second hall be built faster than the first.
What drives the budget
The mechanical and electrical plant is the majority of the cost, and power density per rack drives plant size. Cooling approach matters too: air cooling, liquid cooling or hybrid designs have different structural and piping needs. At altitude, air-cooled equipment needs additional capacity, and that appears as extra chiller or coil area in the budget. We price alternatives in preconstruction so the owner sees the trade-off between capital cost and operating cost.
Site conditions come next. Expansive clay is common along the Front Range, and a thick slab and heavy equipment pads need an engineered foundation. The number of redundant paths, the fire protection approach, and the commissioning scope round out the major drivers. We provide a cost model that is updated at each design milestone, with clear assumptions.
Services that sit beside the hall
Data halls pull in several adjacent scopes. Site utilities, stormwater, access roads and security are all part of the same permit. Power equipment brings its own scope in utilities and power work, including substations and interconnect facilities. Owners who need a campus of repeated halls benefit from a phased master plan with common infrastructure, and we can build that plan in preconstruction.
Whichever route you take, we deliver with a commissioning plan that begins at design. Integrated systems testing is scheduled, resourced and tied to the owner's acceptance criteria so the hall can accept load on the date promised.
Bring the site and the power date
Tell us the parcel, the megawatts and the target energization date. We will return a site assessment, a procurement register and a schedule that shows what the utility and the equipment must do for the date to hold.
Common Questions
How does altitude change the design?
Air density at Colorado elevations reduces the capacity of fans, air-cooled chillers and generators, and some electrical equipment also needs derating. We ask vendors for altitude-adjusted ratings and carry those into the design. Ignoring altitude is the most common cause of a cooling shortfall at commissioning.
Which code edition governs?
It depends on the jurisdiction, because Colorado codes are adopted locally. Editions from 2018 to 2024 are all in use across the Front Range. We confirm the governing edition and any amendments before design and show the code analysis in the permit set.
Do you build powered shells for tenants?
Yes. A powered shell includes the structure, envelope, utilities and electrical service up to a defined point, and the tenant completes the interior. We define the interface carefully so the tenant's fit-out contractor knows what is in place.
What is the biggest schedule risk?
Long-lead equipment and utility interconnection. We manage them with a procurement register and a utility tracker, and we flag risks to the owner early. In our experience the equipment, not the building, is what usually sets the date.
How is commissioning handled?
We plan commissioning from design with the owner's agent, build in staged testing of each system, and run integrated systems tests with load banks. Documentation is delivered by room and by system, so operations and maintenance receive an organized turnover.