'Hyperscale Customer' To Take Massive Datacenter Site Near London

Exclusive One of Europe's largest datacenter campuses is scheduled to be built in the UK close to the M25 motorway in Hertfordshire, permission pending, with a yet to be identified hyperscale customer set to take ownership.

A company called DC01 UK Ltd says it has submitted plans for the new build facility, which it claims will have up two million square feet (185,806 m²) of floor space and an estimated construction cost of approximately £3.75 billion ($4.8 billion).

Above and below: Artist's impression of the new datacenter site - Click to enlarge

The location, adjacent to the A1 road and M25 and just east of South Mimms motorway services, is relatively close to London, Europe's largest datacenter market. And according to DC01 UK, it already has a power reservation of 400MVA from the National Grid, supplied by the Elstree (Letchmore Heath) electricity substation a few miles away, although this isn't due to be connected until 2029.

Current aerial view near the eventual site Pic: William Barton/ Shutterstock

Given the difficulties in getting planning permission and sufficient power for facilities that are affecting many of the datacenter hotspots around the globe, this site could be worth a pretty penny to the right buyer.

DC01 UK isn't going to build the facility itself. The company is aiming to obtain the planning rights and ensure everything else is in place, but a spokesperson told The Register that it would be up to the user of the site (also currently referred to as DC01UK) to actually build the bit barns and occupy them.

Just who that customer might be is "commercially sensitive", according to the spokesperson, but they did inform us that it is "a known hyperscaler" that will be occupying the site.

We tried asking around the "known hyperscalers", but none is willing to put their hand up to this project at the moment. AWS told us that it does not comment on individual datacenter plans, and Microsoft and Google both likewise declined to confirm or deny. Meta had not responded at the time of publication.

DC01 UK makes a number of claims for the site, including that it will support at least 500 jobs during the construction phase and at least 200 permanent local jobs once operational.

It has also produced a glossy video saying the plans include significant upgrades to local cycling and bus routes, a scheme to recycle the waste heat from the facility to new local homes and businesses - as it the trend these days - plus a local community-based Technology and Innovation Hub.

As DC01 UK is not a name we are familiar with, we looked it up at Companies House, the UK registrar of businesses. The firm was incorporated in July 2022 as Hilfield Battery Storage Ltd, almost immediately changing its name to Hilfield Energy Ltd, before becoming DC01 UK Ltd just a couple of weeks ago, at the end of August this year.

The spokesperson told us the company is a joint venture between the Griggs Group and Chiltern Green Energy Ltd, both of which are "experienced in bringing together the key components for the development of sites such as this."

The project certainly seems to have a measure of political backing, with the leader of the local authority, Jeremy Newmark of Hertsmere Borough Council, saying it has his full support.

"Of course, the application is subject to all the normal planning constraints and processes, and we will of course always listen and speak to residents though a public consultation, but I'm certain that local people will realize the benefits of the scheme," he said, reassuringly.

But datacenter sites are not always guaranteed a planning pass, regardless of any benefits they may offer or however essential they might be to the modern world. Another campus overlooking a different part of the M25 was rejected last year on the grounds it would significantly alter the character and appearance of the area.

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The situation may be different with the current Labour government, however, which swept into power in July amid promises to ease planning restrictions holding back investment in datacenters, among other things.

It has just announced that Britain's bit barns are to be designated as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) alongside energy and water systems, for example, with Technology Secretary Peter Kyle highlighting this DC01UK development as a vote of confidence in the government's plans.

"Datacenters play an essential role in British society, housing some of our most important data from vital NHS records to sensitive financial information," Kyle said in a statement.

So it appears this facility has backing at the highest level, meaning it is likely to be approved and built, whoever occupies it – although a lot can change between now and 2029.

Alan Howard, principal analyst for Colocation and DC Building at Omdia, said that there is "a lot of crazy stuff happening" in datacenter markets ever since the 'AI revolution' picked up steam."

He added: "Google announced 1 million square feet for UK in January and said it would be in Waltham Cross, about 10 miles east of South Mimms. Microsoft started a new datacenter project in west London (Park Royal) last year, and in January they announced a project in North Yorkshire but that won't start construction until 2027."

"That said, Microsoft turned on the gas a couple years ago to catch up on datacenter infrastructure and to match the region/zone strategy of AWS and Google," Howard told us, adding "If I were betting on an AWS alternative for South Mimms, it would be Microsoft."

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