Arcadis is participating in the construction of the largest AI campus in Europe

Arcadis, a world leader in sustainable consulting and engineering, announces its contribution to the creation of the largest European campus dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI), led by Campus IA, a joint venture bringing together MGX, Mistral AI, NVidia and the Public Investment Bank (Bpifrance).

Located in Fouju, Seine-et-Marne (77), the project brings together a range of large-scale facilities, including state-of-the-art data centers and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure. The campus is distinguished both by its size – around ten buildings spread across 87 hectares – and by its exceptional energy capacity of 1,4 gigawatts.

According to Hady Aboujaoude, Director of Datacenter Design & Engineering at Arcadis: « The project involves no fewer than forty people within our teams.

Alongside Black&White (lead contractor, technical package engineering) and RBA (architects), Arcadis is involved in all stages of the project: upstream, for the completion of environmental studies and site due diligence, but also for cost estimation, project management and technical coordination of all stakeholders, as well as for the creation of roads and connection to the various networks (VRD); thus mobilizing its environmental, building and infrastructure expertise.

Beyond the technical (acoustics, infrastructure design, etc.) and environmental (energy performance, heat recovery, and biodiversity preservation) challenges associated with this type of installation, the Arcadis teams must also demonstrate agility and efficiency to meet a very ambitious schedule, with the first phase expected to be delivered in 2028 and the entire project by 2033. “The tight schedule is the project's biggest challenge. The Fouju site was able to benefit from the new 'fast track' electrical connection procedure,” says Hady Aboujaoude. On sites previously identified by the government, this procedure allows project developers to request an accelerated connection to RTE's very high voltage (400 kV) network. “Our role in managing the environmental permitting process is extremely important; it involves coordinating all stakeholders, including RTE, to guarantee on-time delivery in accordance with the specifications.”

The AI ​​campus project in Fouju is part of the Government's strategy to make France a major European hub for digital infrastructure, by supporting French AI and developing the country's attractiveness to industry players.

For Thibaud Desfossés, General Manager of Campus IA: “This future campus will be a key pillar of France’s digital and technological sovereignty, while accelerating the adoption of AI in strategic sectors such as healthcare, mobility, energy, finance, and industry. To achieve this ambition, we are pleased to leverage Arcadis’ multidisciplinary expertise, mobilized across the entire lifecycle of data center infrastructures.”