Black & White Engineering names new CTO & innovation chief

Black & White Engineering has appointed Charlie Bater as Chief Technical Officer and Paul Cook as Global Director of Technology & Innovation, expanding its senior technical leadership as it grows in global markets.

The appointments come as demand rises for more integrated, data-led engineering across data centre and critical infrastructure projects. Black & White now operates in 24 locations with more than 1,000 staff worldwide.

Bater takes up the newly created Chief Technical Officer role after eight years with the business. Most recently, he served as Global Datacentre Director, overseeing regional expansion, technical standards and project delivery across markets.

Cook joins the senior leadership team as Global Director of Technology & Innovation. He will work with Bater to develop a more formal approach to technology and innovation across the group's engineering work.

The appointments are part of a wider reshaping of Black & White's technical leadership structure, intended to support growth, strengthen engineering across teams and bring more consistency to delivery.

Leadership changes

Black & White is best known for data centre design, but it also works on other critical infrastructure projects. The sector is becoming more complex, with clients seeking closer links between design, data use and operations.

That shift has led engineering groups to place greater emphasis on standardisation, technical direction and digital integration at earlier project stages. Black & White's internal Global Engineering Team is central to that effort.

The Global Engineering Team supports early-stage technical strategy, bid development, innovation and standardisation across projects. Under the revised structure, Bater will lead the team's further development, focusing on consistency, efficiency and long-term project performance.

Cook brings experience across critical infrastructure, hyperscale data centres and other complex environments. His background includes roles in utilities, ports, pharmaceutical research and development, and healthcare.

Before joining Black & White, he worked at Yondr Group, where he oversaw technology, research and development, and innovation for intelligent data centre platforms. He also held senior positions at ISG focused on digital integration in complex built environments.

Internal promotion

Bater's appointment also marks a senior internal promotion, reflecting both his sector experience and the consultancy's approach to developing technical leadership from within.

Commenting on his new role, Bater said: "Stepping into the CTO role is an incredible opportunity, and I'm grateful for the trust placed in me. Having grown with the business over the past seven years, I've seen firsthand the strength of our people and the ambition that drives Black & White.

"My focus is to build on our position as a leading data centre design consultancy by further enabling a technical function that drives innovation, supports our teams and ensures we continue delivering high-quality solutions for our clients across global markets."

Cook outlined how the technology and innovation brief will work alongside engineering delivery.

"A consistent theme throughout my career has been understanding how complex environments operate in practice and how better integration of infrastructure, digital capability and operational processes can improve performance and resilience," said Cook.

"At Black & White, the opportunity is to build a Technology and Innovation capability that is practical, supports day-to-day project delivery, and ensures buildings are designed to provide operational insight and enable effective performance over their lifecycle. This will be supported by a structured research and development framework so innovation is captured and applied in a measurable way. That means being clear about where technology adds value, improving how data is used, and strengthening decision-making from the earliest stages of a project," added Cook.

The changes underline how consulting engineers serving the data centre market are adapting their leadership structures as projects grow in scale and technical complexity, with greater attention on how assets operate after handover as well as how they are designed.