Majenta x Bentley: De-risking data centre construction with digital delivery
For hyperscalers and tier-one contractors, the economics of delay are unforgiving. Data centres often deliver ROI in under a year, so project schedules slipping even a few weeks can erase value fast. Digital delivery, transitioning from 2D plans to 3D/4D visualisations and ultimately to an operationally ready digital twin, has become the go-to solution for contractors seeking to minimise rework, clashes, and handover issues.
On our recent Majenta x Bentley podcast, David Ayeni, Global Director of Infrastructure Cloud Partner Experience at Bentley, joined Majenta Director Simon Ordish and Customer Success Executive Priya Flora to examine the information gaps that derail data centre projects, and how digital engineering can bridge them.
🎧 Listen to the full conversation
“Over 50% of tier-one contractors now use visual planning or 4D… because, quite frankly, it reduces risks.”
—David Ayeni
The first gap – and the one most likely to add unnecessary costs – appears at the point of handover. If information is incomplete, inconsistent, or not correctly validated against operations, it has a double impact. First, there’s the immediate cost of fixing the data, and then the – sometimes invisible – cost of inefficiencies that occur downstream. And it’s not a matter of a few thousand pounds here and there: in data centre projects, these additional costs can easily run to six or seven figures.
“For a typical billion-pound data centre, the cost of handovers going wrong just in that phase is about 20 million.”
—David Ayeni
Over the last eighteen months, 4D has graduated from being a “nice-to-have” to a core component of planning, and Majenta syncs model updates with the live programme every two weeks at a minimum. This type of disciplined approach is invaluable, ensuring that potentially costly issues are identified and rectified before construction begins. In one project where Majenta was providing the 4D model, a client’s initial complaint about a perceived model error uncovered a serious scheduling issue that would have caused significant delays to the project.
“They rang us to say that we got our 4D plan wrong… we said, no, it’s your programme… they were putting the cladding up before they had any hard standings.”
—Simon Ordish
However, the benefits extend far beyond identifying scheduling or sequencing errors. 4D and federated models are a vital tool for reducing MEP-envelope clashes (which can number in the thousands on data centre projects). They also help to align stakeholders on logistics, path of construction, and productivity tracking. The hard evidence is compelling: both Bentley and Majenta have seen significant time and cost savings result from visual planning solutions on live projects.
“On one project, we shaved about two weeks off the timeline and saved £25–30k.”
—Priya Flora
To lock in value at handover—and across decades of operations—Majenta helps owners specify only the data that matters using ISO 19650, which is uploaded within the digital twin and then fed into the CAFM systems. Cost objections to 4D are understandable, but, as the panel agreed, they can be short-sighted. Visual methods accelerate onboarding and de-risk delivery, creating a faster learning loop for teams and owners alike.
“You can improve learning by up to 400% by using visual methods.”
—David Ayeni
The bottom line from our panel is simple: don’t wait for a big-bang handover or an avoidable on-site clash to prove the case. Start with a phase, set baselines, and measure schedule and cost performance.
If you want to assess your digital delivery and handover readiness – or see how fortnightly 4D cycles could work on your next data centre project – listen to the full Majenta x Bentley conversation, or get in touch with one of our team via the link below.
