Three massive new data centre projects in London, worth a staggering £10 billion, have been revealed, promising to meet the ever-growing data demands of the city, tech companies, and the broader London economy. These projects are designed to cater to the increasing reliance on AI and hyperscale data centre occupiers.
The first of these ambitious deals involves Colt Data Centre Services, which has secured planning consent from Hillingdon Council to expand its Hayes Digital Park campus in west London. The plans include three new hyperscale data centres and an innovation hub, with an estimated cost of £2.5 billion. This expansion will significantly boost the available information technology power at the site, increasing the total capacity to 160 MW. The project will also bring 500 permanent jobs to the area, transforming the neglected Hayes Bridge Retail Park into a thriving data centre hub.
Construction is set to begin in the middle of next year, with the first data centre expected to be operational in early 2029. The innovation hub will serve as a community space and incubator for digital startups, fostering innovation and collaboration.
In a second major development, Ark Data Centres has initiated a public consultation for a £2 billion data centre near Watford. The site, previously a Mercure hotel, has the potential to accommodate up to six two-to-three-story data centres on a campus with a power capacity of up to 200 MW. Ark Data Centres aims to commence construction in 2026 and complete the project by 2029, making it a strong contender to become Europe's largest data centre campus.
The company envisions this development as a state-of-the-art campus capable of supporting a comprehensive range of workloads for government, enterprise, cloud, and AI applications across its diverse customer base, which includes many of the world's most renowned and valuable tech companies.
Lastly, Equinix, a specialist developer and operator, has unveiled a £3.9 billion data centre campus with a power capacity of 250 MW. The project is located on an 85-acre site near the M25 South Mimms in Hertfordshire. Equinix acquired the project, known as DC01UK, from a joint venture between Chiltern Green Energy and Griggs Homes, established in 2022 to oversee the development. Equinix primarily operates colocation schemes, leasing out space to multiple data centre users.
