Principal Monitoring Surveyor - Data Centres
Arcadis · London
Arcadis is the world's leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets.
We are more than 34,000 people, in over 30 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. Everyone has an important role to play. With the power of many curious minds, together we can solve the world’s most complex challenges and deliver more impact together.
Arcadis is seeking a motivated Monitoring Surveyor at Consultant or Senior Consultant level to join our Lenders & Investors Transaction Advisory team, with a focus on data centre and mission-critical development projects. This mid-level role will support the delivery of development monitoring and technical due diligence commissions for banks, investors, debt funds and other funding stakeholders investing in data centre assets and digital infrastructure-backed developments across the UK, Europe and other international markets. The role offers the opportunity to develop with an expanding data centre monitoring team, build specialist sector knowledge and progress as the service line continues to grow. Arcadis will support your development through appropriate specialist training, mentoring and learning opportunities to help you grow in the role.
Our Places business creates and manages sustainable places where people live, work and thrive. The Lenders & Investors team provides independent development monitoring, project monitoring and technical due diligence advice from project inception through to completion, helping clients understand cost, programme, procurement, statutory, quality, delivery and operational readiness risks on complex data centre schemes.
Role description:
As a Monitoring Surveyor, you will work as part of a client-facing team delivering monitoring and due diligence advice for lender and investor clients on data centre projects across the UK and internationally. You will review project information, identify key development and technical risks, attend site inspections, prepare clear reports and support drawdown recommendations. The role will require flexibility to travel to project sites, client meetings and technical workshops in the UK and overseas. At Senior Consultant level, you may take responsibility for smaller data centre commissions or defined workstreams, with support from senior colleagues, while also contributing to client relationships, team development and business development activity. As the team grows, you will have the opportunity to take on more responsibility, develop your technical and commercial capability, and support the continued development of the data centre monitoring service.
Role accountabilities:
Technical delivery and risk advice
- Support and deliver development monitoring and technical due diligence instructions for data centre, mission-critical, logistics, industrial and digital infrastructure projects across the UK, Europe and other international markets.
- Review development appraisals, project budgets, cost plans, programmes, procurement strategies, contracts, appointments and wider project documentation with specific consideration of data centre technical and delivery requirements.
- Help identify and communicate key risks relating to cost, programme, planning, statutory approvals, utility connections, grid capacity, procurement, contracts, quality, delivery strategy and funding conditions.
- Support the assessment of data centre-specific risks, including power availability, redundancy strategy, cooling infrastructure, MEP coordination, phasing, commissioning, integrated systems testing, resilience and operational readiness.
- Prepare initial monitoring reports, ongoing progress reports and concise risk summaries that support informed client decision-making on data centre developments.
- Attend site inspections and monitor progress against programme, budget, specifications, quality expectations, commissioning milestones and agreed funding conditions.
- Review drawdown requests, cost reports, cash flow, contingency, change control and variations, and support clear recommendations on funding release.
- Coordinate inputs from internal cost, project management, MEP, sustainability, planning, environmental and other technical specialists where required, ensuring integrated and funder-focused reporting.
Client service and relationship management
- Develop trusted working relationships with lender, investor, developer, operator, tenant, contractor and professional team stakeholders involved in data centre delivery.
- Attend client meetings, funding discussions, technical reviews and project progress meetings, contributing clear and commercially focused advice.
- Represent Arcadis professionally and help maintain a strong client experience through responsive communication, robust risk advice and high-quality deliverables.
- Support data centre business development activity by contributing to proposals, capability statements, client account discussions and market intelligence.
Team contribution and quality assurance
- Work collaboratively with senior colleagues, project teams and specialist disciplines to deliver technically robust data centre monitoring advice.
- Support the review of reports, schedules and technical inputs to ensure consistency, accuracy and alignment with Arcadis quality standards.
- Share knowledge and support junior colleagues where appropriate, while continuing to learn from senior team members.
- Contribute to continuous improvement in templates, reporting content, processes and lessons learned across the Development Monitoring and data centre service offer.
- Actively support your own personal development and progression by building specialist data centre knowledge, taking on increasing responsibility and contributing to the growth of the team as the service expands, with Arcadis providing appropriate specialist training and support where required.
Commercial management
- Support the preparation of fee proposals, scopes of service and work plans for data centre monitoring and technical due diligence commissions.
- Manage allocated tasks in line with agreed budgets, programme requirements, technical dependencies and client expectations.
- Monitor progress against scope and raise potential cost, programme, technical interface or delivery issues with senior colleagues in a timely manner.
- At Senior Consultant level, support the management of smaller data centre commissions or defined workstreams, with appropriate senior oversight.
Qualifications & Experience:
- Degree qualified in Quantity Surveying, Building Surveying, Project Management, Construction Management, Engineering or another relevant property, construction or built environment discipline.
- MRICS or working towards MRICS, or equivalent professional qualification, is preferred.
- Experience in development monitoring, project monitoring, technical due diligence, quantity surveying, cost consultancy, project management or a closely related consultancy discipline, ideally with exposure to data centre, mission-critical, industrial or complex MEP-led projects.
- Good understanding of construction processes, procurement routes, building contracts, project controls, development funding structures and technical interfaces on MEP-intensive schemes.
- Awareness of key data centre delivery considerations, including utility connections, power resilience, cooling systems, fire protection, security, commissioning, integrated systems testing and operational handover.
- Ability to review project information, identify key risks and produce clear, concise and commercially focused written advice.
- Strong communication, stakeholder management and organisational skills, with the confidence to engage with clients and professional teams.
- Commercial awareness, attention to detail and ability to manage competing deadlines across multiple commissions.
- Willingness and ability to travel to data centre project sites, client meetings and technical workshops across the UK and internationally, including short-term overseas travel where required.
Desirable experience:
- Exposure to lender advisory work, development finance, investor due diligence or fund monitoring on data centre or digital infrastructure assets.
- Experience reviewing JCT, FIDIC or similar building contracts, consultant appointments, collateral warranties, third party rights, bonds, insurance and security documentation.
- Experience reviewing data centre delivery risks associated with power procurement, grid connection, substation works, generators, UPS systems, cooling plant, fire systems, controls, security, commissioning and handover.
- Experience preparing or contributing to proposals and supporting client account development in the data centre, mission-critical or industrial sectors.
- Experience coordinating multi-disciplinary inputs or supporting junior colleagues in a consultancy environment.
What success looks like:
- High-quality, risk-focused monitoring and due diligence reports for data centre projects delivered on time and aligned with Arcadis standards.
- Clear, practical advice that helps lenders and investors understand development, technical, commissioning and operational readiness risks before releasing funding.
- Positive client and stakeholder feedback, with growing confidence in managing client interactions, site inspections and technical project reviews.
- Positive contribution to team capability, quality assurance, commercial performance and the growth of Arcadis’ data centre monitoring service offer.
- Continued development towards taking greater responsibility on data centre commissions, progressing within the Lenders & Investors service line and growing with the team as Arcadis expands its data centre monitoring capability.
Why Arcadis?
We can only achieve our goals when everyone is empowered to be their best. We believe everyone's contribution matters. It’s why we are pioneering a skills-based approach, where you can harness your unique experience and expertise to carve your career path and maximize the impact we can make together.
You’ll do meaningful work, and no matter what role, you’ll be helping to deliver sustainable solutions for a more prosperous planet. Make your mark, on your career, your colleagues, your clients, your life and the world around you.
Together, we can create a lasting legacy.
Join Arcadis. Create a Legacy.
Our Commitment to Equality, Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
We want you to be able to bring your best self to work every day which is why we take equality and inclusion seriously and hold ourselves to account for our actions. Our ambition is to be an employer of choice and provide a great place to work for all our people. We believe that by working together diverse people with different experiences develop the most innovative ideas. Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of how we improve quality of life and we work closely with our people across six ED&I Workstreams: Age, Disability, Faith, Gender, LGBT+ and Race. A diverse and skilled workforce is essential to our success.