How do you build trust in large digital infrastructure projects? In Aragón, Spain, we worked with Microsoft to start the conversation early – helping communities understand and question what data centre investment could mean for their local area.
Across Europe, the rapid expansion of digital infrastructure is bringing significant economic opportunity but also heightened public scrutiny. Communities want clarity on what large-scale developments mean for their environment, local economies and long-term futures.
In Aragón, northeastern Spain, Microsoft recognised that trust would be as important as technical delivery as it progressed plans for three data centre campuses across the region.
With this in mind, we partnered with Microsoft to design and deliver a community engagement programme around its planned data centre investments. Our approach created additional opportunities for people to access information, ask questions and raise concerns, while helping Microsoft better understand the issues that mattered to local communities.
Engaging multiple communities in a complex, evolving conversation
Data centres are highly technical assets, and public concerns can range from land use and sustainability to long‑term regional benefits.
In Aragón, Microsoft needed to engage multiple communities across a wide geographic area, while avoiding fragmented messaging or isolated consultation events that could create more confusion than clarity.
The programme also needed to work at scale, accommodate different levels of technical understanding, and respond to evolving questions over time.
Through this work, we have helped support greater transparency around Microsoft’s proposed data centre investments and enabled more informed, constructive dialogue with stakeholders across Aragón.
Designing an engagement programme built around people
To address this, we worked with Microsoft to design and deliver an approach built around accessibility, clarity and consistency, aligned with best practice in social impact.
We developed a blended engagement model combining digital access with face-to-face dialogue. At its core was our Virtual Information Classroom – a digital platform designed to make complex project information easier to understand, regardless of technical knowledge. Accessible from any device, it brought together plans, maps and explanatory content with a dedicated route for questions and feedback.
This was complemented by moderated in-person sessions in Zaragoza and La Muela. More than 120 residents, local representatives and members of civil society took part, giving people the opportunity to hear directly from the project team and raise questions about issues including employment, energy and water use, training opportunities and the potential effects on local communities.
Creating dialogue beyond formal consultation requirements
Alongside the engagement materials, we supported Microsoft with Q&A intelligence to anticipate the questions communities were most likely to raise. Drawing on teams in Spain and the U.K. and combining our data centre, social impact and digital expertise, we helped the project team prepare for questions spanning technical, environmental and community issues, supporting clearer and more consistent responses during the sessions.
The digital platform also extended access beyond the face-to-face events. Launched alongside the mandatory 30-day public hearing, the Virtual Information Classroom remained available for three months, complementing the statutory process and extending access to information and questions beyond the formal public information period.
Together, these channels enabled Microsoft not only to explain the proposals more clearly, but also to hear firsthand the issues and concerns that mattered to communities across Aragón.
Building understanding and long-term trust
Through this work, we have helped support greater transparency around Microsoft’s proposed data centre investments and enabled more informed, constructive dialogue with stakeholders across Aragón.
The subjects raised reflected practical local priorities. Ahead of one of the best-attended sessions, 73 per cent of registered participants identified employment and local opportunities as an area of interest. Energy use and training initiatives related to AI, education and environmental sustainability were each selected by 55 per cent, while 48 per cent highlighted water use.
The sessions also provided opportunities to connect people with practical information. When representatives of local associations asked about support available to organisations already active in the area, Microsoft was able to direct them to an existing route for further information and funding applications.
Participant feedback was positive. All respondents reported some level of satisfaction with the sessions, including 57 per cent who were ‘very satisfied’. Microsoft’s activities in the community were also rated positively, with 86 per cent describing them as ‘very positive’ and the remaining 14 per cent as ‘positive’.
The results provide tangible evidence that the approach made information accessible, created space for meaningful questions and helped establish a stronger foundation for trust at an early stage of development.
Main image: In-person informative session in La-Muela, Aragón. Credit: Microsoft and AECOM