The Data Centre Review Excellence Awards 2026 is almost upon us, and that means it’s time to reveal this year’s shortlist.
For 2026, the DCR Excellence Awards were given a significant glow-up. That included new categories, a new entry portal, and stricter judging guidelines. This was all designed to make the entry process easier, while giving those entering confidence that they’ll be judged fairly and if they were to ultimately win, they would have truly earned an award.
The improvements made have clearly resonated with the data centre industry, as the 2026 awards received the highest number of entries we’ve ever seen. That means the competition and, ultimately, not everyone can win.
Our independent judging panel faced the difficult task of reviewing submissions from across the industry before selecting this year’s finalists, which are as follows:
Data Centre Consultancy of the Year
- Cundall
- Soben part of Accenture
- Sygna
Net Zero & ESG Leadership Award
- Conapto
- Cundall
Skills Initiative of the Year
- AECOM
- BCS Consultancy
- Vertiv
Cooling Innovation of the Year
- Carrier – AquaForce® 30XF with FreeBoost™ Technology
- LiquidStack – GigaModular™ CDU-10MW
- Perstorp – Synplate DC
Digital Infrastructure Innovation of the Year
- Ciena – Data Center Out-of-Band Management (DCOM)
- Colt Data Centre Services – Central Telemetry Platform
- RiT Tech – XpedITe
Power & Energy Innovation of the Year
- AVK & Pure Data Centres Group – Europe’s First Data Centre Microgrid
- nVent – FleXbus
- Socomec – DIRIS Digiware
Colocation Provider of the Year
- atNorth
- Epsilon Global Hubs
- Netwise
Data Centre of the Year
- atNorth – FIN02
- Conapto – Stockholm 4 South
- Stellium Datacenters – Stellium Data Centre Campus
Sustainable Data Centre of the Year
- Conapto – Stockholm 4 South
- Telehouse
- Vantage Data Centers – Frankfurt FRA12
Modernisation & Retrofit Project of the Year
- Centiel – Heathrow Corporate Park Electrical Infrastructure Upgrade
- EMCOR UK – Maida Vale Data Centre Retrofit for a Major Telecommunications Provider
- Schneider Electric – Queen Mary University of London HPC & Sustainability Infrastructure Upgrade
New Build Project of the Year
- AVK & Pure Data Centres Group – Europe’s First Data Centre Microgrid
- Sudlows – MHR Data Centre Design & Build Project
- Vantage Data Centers – London LHR21
The DCR Excellence Awards celebrate the organisations, teams and individuals shaping the future of the data centre industry through innovation, technical excellence, sustainability and leadership.
We would like to thank everyone who submitted an entry this year, as well as our judges for their time, expertise and dedication throughout the judging process.
Good luck to all shortlisted entries, and we look forward to celebrating with the industry when the winners are revealed at the DCR Excellence Awards 2026 ceremony at DCR Live on June 25, 2026.
