Arcondec editorial · 26 / 10 / 2026

Data centres: growth needs specialist talent

Data centre growth in Mexico calls for workforce planning, coordinated specialist teams and a structured handover of facilities to their operations staff.

Expansion of Mexico’s data centres also creates demand for the people who build them. On 19 October 2026, Luces del Siglo reported a forecast of up to 98,366 direct and indirect construction jobs over the following five years, attributed to Adriana Rivera Cerecedo, executive director of the Mexican Data Centre Association (MEXDC). This is a sector forecast, rather than completed recruitment or vacancies available today.

Employment forecasts raise a question about delivery

For a data centre developer, expected growth raises a practical decision: how to organise the workforce that will take a project from engineering through handover. The construction programme needs to consider specialist availability, when each discipline must contribute and preparation of the team receiving the facilities. Grupo Arcondec’s interpretation focuses on project delivery; the original report does not provide a breakdown of the skills or trades included in the employment forecast.

Editorial analysis

Coordinate specialist teams through the construction programme

A facility brings together civil works, power supply and distribution, cooling, controls and communications. Progress depends on the interfaces between these scopes. A cable route may require an area to be released first; equipment installation needs defined access; a test depends on its supporting systems being available. Workforce planning therefore means assigning responsibilities and sequences as well as estimating headcount for each work area. Before mobilising teams, it helps to identify which deliverables enable the next activity and how conflicts between disciplines will be resolved.

Testing also needs time and people

Completion of the physical installation should be accompanied by a verification and commissioning programme. This establishes what will be checked, who will carry out the tests, which conditions must be available and how results will be recorded. Allocating staff to this stage supports the follow-up and closure of outstanding items before handover. In facilities that remain operational, sequencing must also be agreed with the site operator to account for active loads and intervention windows. Specific procedures must reflect the design, contracted scope and conditions of each project.

Arcondec’s perspective: plan for handover from the start

From Grupo Arcondec’s perspective, specialist workforce planning should be part of a project from its earliest stages. This means coordinating engineering, construction and operations around clear responsibilities and defined acceptance criteria. Preparing the staff who will receive the facility deserves a place in the programme: familiarity with the installed configuration, maintenance access, applicable procedures and available documentation supports an orderly handover. As-built drawings, manuals and test records should match the completed installation. Developers should assess their team’s capacity to complete this process when reviewing expansion programmes. Employment forecasts provide market context; progress at each facility is demonstrated through completed work, documented tests and an accepted handover.