Engineering for major projects: analysis, projects and insights
The subjects our engineers deal with on major projects in energy, industry and infrastructure: design, works, energy, grids, regulation, innovation. Analysis and lessons learned, written by the people who live them.
Data centers in France: a map of the major projects in 2026
France has become one of Europe's largest data center construction sites. Around 350 sites are in operation, and a new generation of campuses dedicated to artificial intelligence, ranging from several hundred megawatts to more than a gigawatt, is being prepared in Île-de-France and Hauts-de-France. Here is where they are being built, who is behind them and when they are due to open.
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Grid connection: why industrial projects are waiting, and what is changing
More than 200 industrial projects are waiting for a connection to the French high-voltage grid. Their combined demand is close to three times the current consumption of French industry. For a project owner, grid connection has become a strategic question, to be asked when choosing the site.
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Public policy: what the State and the regions are doing to attract data centers
Hosting data centers has become a stated priority of the French State, in the name of digital sovereignty and the AI race. Ready-to-use sites, accelerated grid connection, project of major national interest status, nuclear electricity contracts: here are the levers used, and the debates they spark.
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Power transformers: why lead times are exploding
A large power transformer used to take about two years to deliver. It now takes up to five. Grid operators book manufacturing slots years in advance, and projects have to build this constraint into their design from day one.
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How many engineers will it take to build tomorrow's data centers?
Announcements are counted in gigawatts and tens of billions of euros. But a data center is not built with announcements: it takes teams. High-voltage electrical engineers, cooling specialists, construction managers, BIM managers, commissioning engineers: the wave of data centers is making these profiles one of the most sought-after resources in the construction sector.
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Electrifying a factory: what decarbonisation changes on the electrical side
To decarbonise a factory, the first step is to replace fossil fuels with electricity. On paper, it is a change of energy. On site, it is a new electrical project: power multiplied, a customer substation to rethink, a grid connection to negotiate, power quality to control.
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€109 billion for AI: where is data center money going in France?
In February 2025, France announced €109 billion of investment in artificial intelligence. Eighteen months later, announcements have multiplied, from SoftBank to Brookfield. But an investment pledge is not a data center. A look at who is funding what, and at what building a site really costs.
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From substation to energisation: the stages of a high-voltage project
A high-voltage substation connects a transmission line to an industrial site, a renewable plant or the distribution grid. Building one involves a dozen trades, from grid studies to commissioning tests. Here are the main stages, and the points where a project gains or loses months.
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Waste heat: how data centers are becoming district heating plants
All the electricity a data center uses ends up as heat. Today in France, almost all of that heat is released into the air. A new obligation and the arrival of liquid cooling could turn it into a resource for heating homes, swimming pools or greenhouses.
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Phasing out SF6 in switchgear: the European timetable
SF6 has insulated and interrupted current in a large share of substations for decades. It is also the most potent greenhouse gas known. The European F-gas Regulation organises its exit from new switchgear, in stages, between 2026 and 2032.
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Access to power, the new bottleneck for data centers
France produces more electricity than it consumes. Yet getting a grid connection has become the longest and most contested step of a data center project. In eighteen months, the capacity these projects have reserved with RTE has more than tripled.
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Testing and commissioning electrical installations: a profession of its own
Between the end of erection and the first energisation lies a phase that goes unnoticed when it goes well: testing. Yet this is where everything that was designed, built and wired is verified. The test engineer is its guarantor.
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Building a data center: the stages, the lead times and the main difficulties
From the outside, a data center looks like a large warehouse. Inside, it is one of the most technical buildings there is: an electrical and thermal installation that must never stop. From idea to commissioning, a project goes through six main stages, and several pitfalls.
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AI is changing our jobs: what future for engineering consultancy?
Artificial intelligence does not only raise the question of time saved on a document. It forces us to think about what our clients expect from a consultancy, how engineers work and what gives our professions their value. Our conviction: producing faster only makes sense if we understand the project better, check what we deliver and remain accountable for our choices.
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Data centers and AI: why demand will soar by 2030
Data centers currently use around 2% of France's electricity. That figure could double by 2035, and rise much further under some scenarios. Artificial intelligence is driving this change of scale. Here are the projections, and what they mean for the country's infrastructure.
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High Protection: the 8 essential pieces of protective equipment on a construction site
Hard hat, shoes, vest… We put them on every morning without thinking. Yet behind every piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) lie years of engineering and precise standards, designed for a single purpose: that everyone goes home at night. In this special issue, we present the eight essential pieces as a collection, with their function, their variants and the standards to know.
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Liquid cooling, immersion: the innovations changing how data centers are built
For decades, cooling a data center meant blowing cold air down aisles of servers. With AI, this model is reaching its limits: a single GPU rack now gives off as much heat as an entire room did fifteen years ago. Liquid is taking over, and the whole design of the buildings is changing.
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Data centers and the environment: water, land and local acceptance
As projects grow, opposition is spreading. Farmland, water, rejected heat, electricity, local benefits: data centers have become a subject of public debate in France, as in the United States. Understanding these criticisms is now essential for a project to succeed.
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