The federal government has unveiled a new national framework for artificial intelligence, establishing an Office of AI within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and flagging mandatory national standards for the sector.
Under the proposed rules, large data centre operators will be required to underwrite their own new electricity generation, cover the full cost of connecting to the grid, reduce electricity use during periods of peak demand and meet strict water efficiency requirements.
The government also confirmed it would work with state and territory governments to ensure major AI infrastructure is built in appropriate locations with input from local communities, with the framework set to go before National Cabinet in August and legislation expected early next year.
For the construction sector, the announcement signals a significant shift in how data centres, among the fastest growing categories of commercial construction in the country, will be planned, sited and built in the years ahead.
The Australian Institute of Architects, the peak body representing the architecture profession nationally, has welcomed the announcement, especially the commitment to a more coordinated national approach to the construction of data centres.
For the Institute, the most significant element is the promise of a framework guiding how and where these facilities are built, and how their impact on surrounding communities and infrastructure is managed.
Institute National President David Wagner FRAIA said the construction of data centres carries consequences that extend well beyond the buildings themselves.
“Data centres have major impacts on energy networks, water supplies and surrounding communities,” said Wagner.
According to Wagner, that reality demands early and deliberate planning.
Wagner said getting that planning right from the outset would allow the sector to expand without placing undue strain on the systems and communities around it.
If the fundamentals are addressed now, he said, data centres can support economic growth while balancing the needs of communities, infrastructure and the environment.
The Institute said it was encouraged by the government’s recognition that a solid strategic framework and national coordination are required, and confirmed it intends to work with the newly established Office of AI to provide advice from a built environment perspective.
Architects, Wagner said, have a role to play in shaping how this next wave of construction unfolds, given their experience balancing competing technical, environmental and social demands on major infrastructure projects.
Central to the Institute’s position is the idea that data centres should not be viewed in isolation from the broader systems that support them.
“Data centres are more than just buildings,” said Wagner.
Wagner described them instead as integrated infrastructure systems that need coordinated planning across energy, water and land use, a framing that puts the construction sector, rather than the technology itself, at the centre of the conversation.
The Institute also pointed to the environmental stakes involved in the sector’s rapid expansion.
As one of the fastest-growing parts of the digital economy, Wagner argued, data centres should be designed to minimise emissions, maximise efficiency and support the integration of renewable energy, rather than adding new pressure to an already stretched grid.
Wagner said architects were well placed to help navigate these challenges, pointing to the profession’s work at the intersection of infrastructure, energy, planning, sustainability and community outcomes as evidence that built environment expertise should be central to how the sector develops.
With demand for AI infrastructure expected to accelerate construction activity across the country, the Institute’s comments position architects as key contributors to the framework the government is now seeking to establish, particularly as questions of siting, design and long-term sustainability come into sharper focus for the construction industry.