Beside every large data hall there is a second set of buildings that the hall cannot run without. Medium-voltage switchgear rooms, generator yards, a central utility plant, a fire pump house, a security gatehouse, a receiving and staging warehouse, a maintenance shop. These are ordinary industrial structures in form, but they work under data center rules: no unplanned outages, tight commissioning and documentation that the operator will audit.
We build the support side of data center campuses, and we build it for owners, operators and the developers who prepare land for them. Our scope is the buildings and the site work that connects them, including pads, duct banks, fire water, access roads and perimeter security. The data hall itself is a separate package covered under our data center construction service.
A 1,400 acre data center is under construction in Santa Teresa, according to an August 2026 report in the Albuquerque Journal. A campus on that scale generates years of support construction, and not all of it will be done by the hall's builder. Owners and vendors need contractors who can deliver electrical buildings and yards with the same discipline, in the same desert conditions.
Electrical buildings carry the heaviest consequences. Switchgear and transformers sit on concrete pads that must be level and flat to tight tolerances, and conduits enter the building through duct banks that were poured weeks before. A rough pour that misses by an inch can delay equipment delivery. Generator yards need foundations for engines and day tanks, containment for fuel, and an exhaust and noise strategy that does not blow into the air intakes of neighbors.
Central plants add chillers or cooling towers, pumps and piping. Water is the big site question in the desert, and the plant layout reflects whatever the owner has decided about cooling technology. We build the structure, slab, pads and trenches to suit that choice, and we coordinate closely with the mechanical contractor. The result needs to be accessible for future equipment replacement, with laydown and crane access built into the layout.
Santa Teresa has a port of entry, a 1,100 acre rail park served by a short line railroad that interchanges with the Union Pacific, and a county jetport with a 9,550 foot runway. It also has land. The Albuquerque Journal article that describes the 1,400 acre data center also reports that Sunland Park's revised annexation proposal for Rancho Santa Teresa covers about 362 acres, which the city projects would add $50 million to the local economy.
That activity creates demand for contractors in Santa Teresa and in the neighboring city of Sunland Park. Support buildings are needed early, because temporary power, site security and construction offices precede the permanent systems. A contractor who has already mobilized for site utilities can take on those buildings with little duplication.
Support buildings fall under the 2021 New Mexico Commercial Building Code, which adopts the 2021 International Building Code as amended and took effect July 14, 2023. Electrical work follows the 2020 New Mexico Electrical Code, which adopts the 2020 National Electrical Code as amended and took effect March 28, 2023. Energy provisions follow the 2021 commercial energy code, in effect since January 30, 2024, though many service buildings are lightly conditioned.
Beyond the code, operators set their own standards for fire detection, pre-action suppression, grounding and bonding, and commissioning. We ask for the owner's technical standards at the start and build them into the drawings, the submittals and the inspection plan. Where the utility has requirements for service entrance equipment, we coordinate with them and keep the inspection record clear.
Our trade partners place the concrete that supports the electrical system: equipment pads, generator foundations, duct bank encasement, manholes and the slabs in the buildings themselves. We erect the structural steel and metal panel buildings, and we complete site paving, fencing and drainage. Doing the underground and concrete work through trade partners protects the schedule for the electrical contractor who follows.
For long runs of conduit and feeders, we use electrical duct bank and underground methods with spacers, concrete encasement and mandrel testing, then record locations with survey. We also build the site utilities package that serves the buildings: water, sanitary, storm and fire lines. Having one crew coordinate these items avoids the conflicts that come from separate underground contractors.
Support buildings sit on the critical path in unobvious ways. Switchgear delivery often takes months, and the electrical building must be weather-tight and conditioned when it arrives. Commissioning of the data hall cannot begin until power is available, so the electrical building and generator yard come early in the sequence. We work backward from the date the operator needs live power and set milestones for pads, enclosure and cooling.
In the desert, summer and monsoon season shape the plan. Concrete placement is easier in the cooler months, and early-morning pours help in summer. Wind and blowing dust affect the cleanliness required for electrical rooms, so we close buildings as early as possible. With the data center industry moving quickly, our schedules show float and risk openly, and we update them as equipment dates change.
Send us the site plan, the list of support buildings and the date you need power. We will return a scope, a sequence and a budget range for the buildings and the site work around them.
Our data center construction service covers the hall. This service covers the supporting buildings and site systems. Many owners award them together, and others separate them to keep more contractors involved. We can work either way and coordinate closely with whoever builds the rest.
As early as the design allows, since it controls when the campus can receive power and when equipment can be installed and tested. We recommend ordering switchgear and transformers before the building is complete, and building the enclosure around a defined delivery date.
Yes. Most operators provide technical standards covering finishes, cleanliness, labeling, grounding and documentation. We read them before pricing and note any conflicts with the building code or with project conditions.
They need level, drained pads, fuel containment, access for deliveries of fuel and for service, noise and exhaust planning and often security fencing. We also provide conduit and grounding in the yard so that the electrical contractor can connect quickly.
We seal the building early, protect equipment during storage and run temporary cooling when equipment is energized. Dust control continues through commissioning, since contamination of switchgear can cause failures.