Over the past decade, the criticality of data centres has increased by an order of magnitude. From the cloud revolution to the AI boom, digital infrastructure growth has seen a global spike in compute capacity and facility size. In the US, the average data centre is expected to grow from around 40 MW today to 60 MW by 2028. Data centre designs are changing, too, with rising rack densities and the widespread adoption of liquid cooling to keep up with tech giants’ appetite for AI.
As facilities get bigger, delivery timelines get shorter, and the complexity of the average data centre increases, risk tolerances are shrinking. Much of the success of this worldwide buildout rests on the commissioning industry.
In a world where delays and design mistakes can mean multi-million dollar disruptions to multi-billion dollar projects, commissioning agents are invaluable guarantors that design goals and execution are in alignment. Considering the impact the commissioning process has on every aspect of a project, from energy efficiency to operational reliability, the way our industry approaches and defines commissioning carries real consequences.
As the data centre sector has evolved over the past ten years, so too has the language of commissioning. What was once a clearly defined discipline — technical, structured, and evidence-based — has been increasingly diluted by boilerplate marketing. The result is a growing misunderstanding, both of what commissioning does, and its importance.
Today, almost every contractor or consultant seems to offer “commissioning management” as a service. The phrase has become a fixture on capability statements, often sitting neatly between “design management” and “handover support,” as though commissioning were simply another administrative process within a project lifecycle. A box-ticking exercise.
But commissioning is not a box to be ticked at the tail end of a project. It is a critical source of assurance and verification. When the meaning of commissioning becomes blurred, so too does the standard of assurance that clients expect and depend on. Today, that distinction matters more than ever.
An Erosion of Meaning
Commissioning has always been about assurance: proving that what was designed, built, and integrated actually performs as intended. As the data centre sector has expanded at extraordinary speed, however, common usage of the term has broadened to cover a vast range of interpretations. As a result, ask ten different data centre companies to define commissioning and you will likely get ten different (albeit overlapping) answers. Some see commissioning as document control or process management; others use it to describe systems testing and facility handover; and a few, still, understand it as a full lifecycle certification of performance.
This broadening of commissioning’s definition has, unintentionally, diluted the credibility of the discipline. Clients hear the same word from multiple providers but rarely receive the same level of technical depth, independence, or rigour. The result is confusion and, in some cases, misplaced trust.
Too often, we see commissioning managers parachuted in close to the completion of a project. They are then handed a collection of spreadsheets, checklists, and reports, and tasked with “closing out” the commissioning process. Ticking boxes, in short. It is an approach designed for completion, not for verification. The client may successfully get sign-off on their facility, but such an approach does not equal proof. There is no true assurance.
True commissioning cannot simply be bolted onto the end of a programme or managed remotely from a desktop. It requires technical engagement, continuity, and structure from the earliest design stage through to performance testing. In short, real commissioning is built in at the foundations, not applied retrospectively like a coat of paint over a cracked facade.
Certification: The True Goal of Commissioning
At its heart, commissioning is a certification process. Commissioning agents interrogate a facility throughout its design and construction in order to deliver measurable, defensible evidence that said facility performs exactly as it was designed. Carbon reporting regulations are becoming more strict, and the price of everything from semiconductors to concrete, labour, and electricity are expected to continue rising through 2026. It should be obvious that any discrepancy between the standards at which a facility was designed to operate and the reality when it comes online can be a minefield of fines, delays, and lost revenue. Commissioning is the ultimate assurance layer between design, construction and operation. It is the point at which assumptions are tested and verified against real performance.
When commissioning is carried out properly, the result is not simply a completed handover file but a certified statement of reliability and readiness. Every sequence, every interface, and every system has been certifiably demonstrated to function safely, efficiently, and in harmony with the facility as a whole.
This is the foundation on which we built Global Commissioning. Our role is not to oversee commissioning, ticking boxes at the end of a project to meet a handover date, but rather to meaningfully certify performance. We validate that design intent has been achieved, that all performance standards are met, and that the asset operates in full accordance with its engineered purpose.
Our certification is not theoretical. It is recognised across EMEA by some of the world’s largest owner-operators and end-user organisations for whom disruptions and downtime are not an abstract inconvenience but an existential risk. To them, commissioning is not paperwork; it is risk management.
Verification: The Missing Discipline
Verification is the cornerstone of genuine commissioning, and yet it is often the first element lost when the process is treated as an add-on service. Verification is the process that transforms commissioning from coordination and box-ticking into proof.
This is where technical expertise and independence matter most. Verification is not an administrative exercise; it is the practical observation and testing of systems under load. It means validating the sequence of operations, confirming redundancy, assessing control logic, and ensuring interoperability between disciplines. It demands engineers who understand not just how systems function individually, but how they behave collectively and how those relationships impact a facility’s overall performance.
Behind every certification issued by Global Commissioning are professionals who have undergone these processes countless times. They have witnessed systems under real operating conditions, challenged assumptions, and resolved conflicts long before a client ever steps into the facility. Their work not only provides confidence but traceability: data-backed assurance that the design intent has been realised.
Verification may not be glamorous work, but it is essential. Without it, commissioning becomes opinion rather than evidence. Box-ticking without verification.
The Role and Responsibility of Global Commissioning
At Global Commissioning, commissioning is not some value-add service or afterthought; it is the reason we exist. Every process, every tool, and every training programme we develop is designed around one purpose: to certify performance.
Our name may include the word “commissioning,” but what we actually deliver is assurance, verification, and validation. We validate that what was designed and constructed performs exactly as intended, and we certify that result through a disciplined, transparent, and repeatable methodology. That clarity of purpose is what gives our certification its strength and consistency.
We view commissioning as the last line of defence for an industry where the stakes are rising year-on-year. Commissioning is the point where documentation ends and evidence begins. It is the interface between project delivery and operational excellence. And in that moment, independence and integrity are everything.
Proper commissioning, certification, and verification are not a luxury. Commissioning is the mechanism that ensures design intent survives contact with reality. It is the process that safeguards operational performance long after construction has finished.
Reclaiming the Meaning of Commissioning
Commissioning should never be reduced to another service line. Another box-ticking exercise. It is the industry’s most important form of assurance, the certification that design intent has been achieved, and that the facility performs as expected.
At Global, we are proud to carry the name commissioning, because to us it still means what it always should have: validation, verification, and proof. It represents not a process to be managed, but a standard to be upheld.
As our industry continues to evolve, we all have a choice to make. We can treat commissioning as another box to tick, or we can protect it as the certification discipline that underpins performance, safety, and reliability across the data centre world.
