IONOS has announced that it is moving forward with plans to build a £20 million Tier IV data centre in Worcester after receiving the go-ahead from the local council.
Stoford, a property developer based in the Midlands, submitted plans for a 51,479 sq ft unit at Worcester Six business park, which Wychavon District Council has now approved. The unit will host a Tier IV data centre operated by 1&1 IONOS Ltd, one of Europe’s largest web hosting firms, as well as its subsidiary brand Fasthosts.
While the total unit size will be 51,579 sq ft, only 38,501 sq ft of space will actually house the data centre. That leaves 12,978 sq ft of space for ancillary offices.
Despite the massive size, IONOS promises that the data centre will be highly energy-efficient. That will be through the deployment of efficient IT, as well as the installation of the company’s own photovoltaic system on the roof of the data centre. This PV system should cover 10% of the energy use at the site.
Edward Peel, development manager at Stoford, said: “The approval for the IONOS development will bring another world-class operator to Worcester Six, which recognises the strategic location, excellent infrastructure links, and talented workforce that businesses can draw upon.
“We believe this is the first data centre to come to Wychavon and it is a clear indication of the confidence that IONOS, which is the largest cloud and hosting provider in Europe, has for the area, and for the business park.
“The excellent central location of Worcester Six, plus the availability and diverse routing of services that we have installed to the site, made this a forerunner for IONOS; we are proud to be delivering this building for them.”
Achim Weiss, IONOS CEO, added, “We are thrilled to start construction of the Worcester Six data centre soon. The demand for cloud services has been growing even more in these difficult times and with our new site we will be able to provide a variety of hosting, computing, and storage solutions to customers across the UK. We are very grateful that Wychavon District Council has approved our application so quickly.”
Councillor Ken Pollock, cabinet member with responsibility for economy and infrastructure at Worcestershire County Council, concluded, “We look forward to working with IONOS, as a potential new occupier of the Worcester Six Business Park. This news is testament to the teams who have worked tirelessly in the most difficult of circumstances to maintain the county’s extensive progress in the business development and growth area.
“Data has become one of the world’s most valuable commodities in recent years and the pandemic has not altered this. Data centre demand continues to be driven by the rapid adoption of cloud services and the emergence of business models. This development not only solidifies Worcester Six Business Park as a first-rate business location but also provides Worcestershire with a highly valued asset, bringing substantial economic benefits for the county.”
