CMS Real Estate Data Centre Consenting in Latvia

No separate agreement is necessary unless the municipality land is used for the construction. Most of the development lands are privately owned.​

The construction of a data centre requires a building permit (in standard situations to be issued by the municipality). The construction of a data centre does not differ from other types of construction and is governed by public law. Due to the intended function of the data centre, specific energy efficiency or energy security requirements may apply, e.g. for ventilation, cooling, independent generator to be covered by the design. However, it is more regulated by the chosen voluntary standardisation system – Lead, BREEAM etc.​

The procedure and the granting of the building permit are governed by the construction law and respective building regulations and the applicable spatial plan. In general, the applicant is entitled to a building permit if the project is in line with the permitted use and main construction parameters under the spatial plan (intensity, density, free area etc.).​

Data centres are not specifically addressed in Latvian planning or building law, therefore spatial plans of local municipalities are applicable and decisive. In general, data centres are permissible and can be developed in spatial plan areas designated as industrial areas. If data centres do not cause a significant nuisance or other material impacts on environment, then development is permitted also in commercial and mixed use areas. ​

In Latvia, there is a well-developed territorial planning system and it is easy to identify if the data centre is permitted on the relevant land plot and if additional planning procedures will be required (e.g. detailed plan for the arrangement of access roads or utility networks, if these are undeveloped territories).​

In addition to the standard development based on the ownership title, the ‘non-residential’ projects can be developed also on the bases of so called ‘construction rights concept’ (i.e. long term land leases with the developer’s right to construct buildings, which during the lease period are considered the independent property of the developer and can be mortgaged, sold, leased, encumbered etc). As the title to these ‘construction rights’ is also officially registered in the official public real estate register (Land Book), this instrument is recognized as bankable by Latvian and foreign banks and is quite widely used in practice.​​

The main steps are the following:​

1. Securing the land (signing purchase or ‘construction right’s contract and registration of the title in the Land Book)​
   – 1-3 month​
2. Environmental impact assessment  or detail planning, if any (not a standard requirement) – 1 year​
3. Obtaining the building permit  (on the basis of the initial sketch design showing basic building parameters)​
   – 1 month. 1 There is two stage building permit process in Latvia in order to ensure that at an early stage of the development the investor obtains a legal certainty that conceptually the project is permissible. On the basis of the initial minimum sketch design, the municipality issues the building permit, which confirms that in principle the development is compatible with mandatory law and spatial plan and entitles the developer to start a detailed design process as per requirements listed in the building permit. As soon as the full design is ready it shall be coordinated with relevant authorities and the Construction Board of the municipality issues the note in the Building permit confirming that the design has been developed according to all requirements and can be carried out as soon as a proper construction company is engaged. A process is followed by the formal final note in the Building permit, which names the engaged contractor and entitles them to start works on the site.​   ​
4. Development, coordination and final approval of the Design – 6-12 months (depending on complexity)​
5. Construction and commissioning 2 2 Commissioning shall be ensured within the validity period of the building permit, which minimum is 5 years (up to 8), otherwise repeated coordination of the design is required and new requirements can be introduced.  – 6-36 months (depending on size and complexity)​
6. Registration of the data centre in the Land Book – 10-15 days.​

As mentioned above, data centres are a new class of assets and are not explicitly mentioned and regulated by Latvian Law. Therefore, they fall under general commercial and/or industrial development and it is easy to identify from public sources in which zones they are in principle permitted. Technical and architectural requirements and separately assessed by technical consultants.

There are no specific requirements for the data centres, therefore general rules apply. Specific requirements may apply to certain equipment to be installed. In general, neither the construction nor operation of the data centre shall conflict with any environmental protection regulations and meanwhile shall comply with all mandatory energy efficiency requirements. ​

In terms of zoning the environmental aspects are already verified during the spatial planning process, therefore if the territory is already designated for commercial and industrial development, it is unlikely that the construction of the data centre will cause material environmental threats.

There are no biodiversity requirements specifically for data centre developments. Nevertheless, general planning rules and the building permit may include some biodiversity requirements, if the chosen project land plot is located in the territory where biodiversity is relevant, for example, a new population of bats is discovered. This, however, is not a standard situation for developments in commercial and industrial areas.​