CHARLOTTE-CB Richard Ellis has brought all of its data center and critical environment work under one roof with the newly formed CBRE Critical Environment Practice, GlobeSt.com has exclusively learned. Mitch Harris, based here, will lead the new practice, which will consist of transaction management, facilities management and project management specialties.

“As data and information play an increasingly central role in both our economy and daily lives, the unified CBRE Critical Environment Practice will enable us to work even deeper across borders and business lines to meet the needs of our clients,” Harris says in a statement. He notes the company’s track record in this arena, with a portfolio currently encompassing 86 million square feet of Tier I through Tier IV critical facilities, including 200 data centers.

The practice’s transaction management specialty will encompass services formerly provided by CBRE’s technology practice group, including leasing, sales, capital markets and advisory services. The facilities management specialty will offer the critical environment technical services currently provided by the engineering solutions group under Jack O’Connor, a CBRE senior managing director, while the project management activity will encompass the data center construction services that managing director Jerry Reich now oversees from CBRE offices in Washington, DC.

Click here for more information on the CBRE Critical Environment Practice.