With many communities across the U.S. posing stiff opposition to constructing new data centers, some developers are trying to better the odds of approvals by proposing projects with better design.

Design elements such as mature trees and robust plantings, green roofs or living walls, decorative fencing, walking paths and park-like settings offering public benefits beyond the data center, have been included in some projects.

These features appear to have helped some projects move more smoothly through the approval process by softening their visual impact and signaling an effort to be a better neighbor, according to a GlobeSt report. 

Better design has become part of the risk-mitigation toolkit for investors, not just an overhead cost, the report says. One example: Google is pursuing mass timber hyperscale centers in Virginia, which could produce a more sustainable and visually distinct structure.

More attractive design can help get new data centers permitted, but the concerns over excessive noise, strain on water supplies, and large demand on local energy supplies also must be addressed. Otherwise, aesthetic upgrades are not likely to overcome concerns by organized opponents or to slow political momentum against rapid data center sector expansion.