Data centre construction growth to continue

Demand for new data centre construction is continuing to grow as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UK is at the heart of the burgeoning data centre construction market with London experiencing strong growth in new projects.

In 2020, the global market for data centre construction was estimated to be worth £15 billion and expected to reach £24 billion by 2027 according to consultants Gartner.

A 2021 report by consultants Arcadis said that the UK’s superior cyber security, which it ranked as the best in the world, made the country a ‘prime target’ for data centre investment and identified London as the largest data centre market in Europe.

“The UK is a critical interchange and communications hub between North America and Europe with over 50 undersea cables,” said Arcadis in the Data Centre Location Index 2021 report. “At the same time, the UK is beginning to roll out FTTP (fibre to the premises) and catching up with many of its neighbours, which will likely increase data consumption in the future.”

In London’s pipeline

Glenigan’s construction market research has identified a host of data centre projects in the pipeline in the London area.

These range from a £45.6m Data Centre Campus proposed by Colt Data Centres Services in Hillingdon (Project ID: 21507601) to a £19.5m three-storey data centre planned by Interexion for the site of a former Truman's Brewery in Tower Hamlets (Project ID: 10496865).

Also in Tower Hamlets, Global Switch is developing a £10m project, known as the London South (LONS) Data Centre, at East India Dock (Project ID: 21230357) and Echelon is planning a £10m million extension to its existing data centre at Greenwich View Place in Docklands (Project ID: 20256209).

These projects are still at the planning stages but Glenigan’s analysis has identified other data centre projects further forward in the procurement pipeline in West London.

Tenders have been returned for a £10 million data centre scheme at Concord Road in Ealing (Project ID: 20359084), while ISG has landed the contractor’s role on the first phase of an £81 million data centre scheme also in Ealing for Vantage Data Centers.

On site

A number of major data centre projects in the London area are already under construction. These include the £230 million KAO Data Campus in Harlow (Project ID: 15107233) and the £600 million Union Park scheme comprising a 56,000 square metre campus, offices and a substation in Hayes (Project ID: 20142828).

The Union Park scheme is being developed by Ark Data Centres, whose chief executive officer Huw Owen says: “In order to keep up with the pace of digital change, the UK needs to build more data centres to support rapid data growth.”

Ark Data Centres has also started work on other projects including a £38 million centre at Corsham in Wiltshire (Project ID: 19442841) and a £15.4 million scheme in Farnborough (Project ID: 19074882) as the data centre revolution expands out of London and into the Home Counties. Going forward, the work prospects in this area look set to light up further.

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