Data centre owner and developer Echelon Data Centres has made its first move outside of Ireland with a £150m (€168m) investment in a 20MW data centre facility in London’s Docklands.
The centre at The Point, Greenwich View, is understood to be the first new facility to come on stream since the 1990s in an area where there are already 22 existing data centres. It will be tenant-ready in 2020 and provides immediately accessible capacity in an area of high demand and limited availability. It is ideally located for low latency services for Canary Wharf and the City of London.
The London investment adds to the company’s portfolio of data centre sites, which include an 84MW site under construction in Clondalkin, west Dublin, and two further sites, one with planning permission for a facility with 100MW capacity, near Arklow.
In January 2019, Echelon company announced an initial €1bn investment in Ireland, and its intention to have 500MW of capacity in five countries by the end of 2025.
The London facility is currently a 130,000 sqft powered shell and therefore adjustable to meet tenant specifications. It also benefits from 13,000 sqft of available office space and on-site parking with charging for electric vehicles.
Niall Molloy, CEO of Echelon Data Centres, believes that The Point’s data centre capacity represents a significant and unique opportunity in an area with high barriers to entry.
He said: “Finding 20MW of capacity in the heart of London’s business district is not easy. It’s a scarce commodity, given the location, the availability of power and the ability to accommodate high-density racks. We believe that this is the first new facility in the area since the late 1990s – and there’s generally a lack of space for existing facilities to expand – and we know that there is intense and growing demand for the capacity it will deliver.
“Our new site at The Point has excellent network connectivity being part of the Docklands Metropolitan Ring and is located in close proximity to number of global operators. It’s within sight of the City and of Canary Wharf, and is ideally located to serve both those international business hubs.”
