A major new data centre is to be built in East London valued at £5.3 billion.
by Rory Butler / November 14, 2022
Reef Group has won permission to construct ‘Europe’s largest’ data facility in East Havering, on a site spanning 175 ha.
The property-investment firm’s traditional focus is retail, leisure, hotel, workplace and residential. However, in April the company (also Digital Reef) also appeared to file plans for a technology park and data centre near Didcot, in Oxfordshire.
Inside the deal: Close to Warley Substation, the East Havering data centre will house ten 50MW and five 20MW units (600MW collectively), across a 330,000-sqm floorspace. Part of the site is designated Green Belt.
- Estimated 2,370 jobs
- Digital skills programmes
- £694 million GDP (during construction)
- £456 million GDP (pa) when operational
As part of the scheme’s carbon neutral strategy, a publicly accessible 300-acre ecology park, and community forest are also proposed.
Also on the job:
- University of Leicester (UoL)
- Space Park Leicester
- Earth-Space Sustainability
UoL will conduct vertical farming research ‘to compensate for any loss of some farmland at the site’, according to The Havering Daily.
A five-year construction phase could commence in 2023.
“This landmark project strengthens the UK’s digital, energy and food resilience whilst bringing significant inward investment and taking Havering on a pathway to net zero through the Zero Carbon Initiative,” said Reef Group co-founder, Piers Slater, to The Havering Daily.
Mr Slater said the project will also play a “critical role” in the growing data and digital economy, while helping the UK Government deliver its Digital Strategy 2022.
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