Echelon Data Centres announces UK expansion with €168m London hub

16 Sep 2019

Image: Echelon Data Centres

Echelon Data Centres previously declared its ambition to have 500MW of capacity in five different countries by the end of 2025.

Indigenous Irish company Echelon Data Centres has announced plans to expand into the UK with a €168m investment in a 20MW-capacity facility in London. This is the company’s first hub outside of Ireland.

The new London centre is located at The Point, Greenwich View, and is reported to be the first facility to come onstream since the 1990s, in an area that currently has 22 existing data centres. Echelon Data Centres estimates the facility will be tenant-ready by 2020 and is, the company says, in an area of low-latency services for Canary Wharf and the City of London.

The London facility is a 130,000 sq ft powered shell and can therefore be adjusted to tenant needs. It also includes 13,000 sq ft of available office space.

This will add to the firm’s data centre portfolio. In January 2019, Echelon Data Centres announced a €1bn investment in two new data centres in Clondalkin, Dublin, and Arklow, Co Wicklow. The 84MW-capacity facility in Clondalkin is currently under construction and will be 44,000 sq metres in size, while the Arklow facility is set to have 100MW of capacity and will be 45,000 sq metres.

The firm has declared its ambition to have 500MW of capacity in five countries by the end of 2025.

Growing demand

“Finding 20MW of capacity in the heart of London’s business district is not easy,” said Niall Molloy, CEO of Echelon Data Centres.

“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.”

In Ireland, data centres are set to generate billions in investment in the country, according to the latest industry report by Host in Ireland, which claimed that €4.5bn worth of centres will be built here by 2025.

Eva Short was a journalist at Silicon Republic

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