BCS Consultancy has appointed Chris Coward as its new Chief Operating Officer, as the business targets its next phase of growth in the data centre market.

The London-headquartered consultancy said Coward will take responsibility for strengthening operational delivery as BCS expands across key markets in EMEA and beyond, at a time when demand for scalable and more sustainable data centre capacity is being driven by AI workloads and wider digital infrastructure growth.

The appointment follows the departure of Scott Shearer, one of BCS’ co-founders, who has stepped down after a decade with the business.

Coward joined BCS in 2017 as one of its early employees and has spent eight years helping to build its project management capability and supporting the company’s transition from a UK-focused operation into a multi-region consultancy.

In announcing the move, BCS said it has grown to more than 165 specialists across five offices worldwide, and claims to have supported more than 300 projects. The firm also said it has advised on more than £20 billion of investment and generates more than £22 million in annual revenue.

“I’ve had the privilege of working closely with James and Scott for much of my career, and want to thank them both for their leadership and trust, which have shaped both my journey and the culture of BCS,” said Coward. 

“As BCS becomes an increasingly global business, my primary focus is to ensure we have the right operational structure, technology and support in place to deliver consistently for our clients, while staying true to the ethos that makes BCS different – a people-first, human-led business, backed by deep, technical, data centre expertise.”

BCS said Coward has also been involved in its people and talent strategy, including the creation of an apprenticeship programme, as the wider data centre sector continues to warn of skills shortages and recruitment pressures.

The company added that Coward’s remit will include accelerating digital adoption across the organisation and ensuring consistency of delivery as it grows across regions, while maintaining what it described as a “human-led, customer-first approach”.