Kao preps for £350m Stockport data centre
Having acquired Kenwood Point in Reddish from Mercia Real Estate, the data centre developer and operator has unveiled ambitions to build a 40-megawatt facility powered completely by renewable energy.
This marks the first foray into the North for London-based Kao Data, which also operates data centres in Harlow, Slough, and Northolt.
“Our move into Manchester marks an important next step in the continued evolution of our organisation, and we’re excited to bring our industry-leading data centre platform to one of the UK’s most influential technology and business hubs,” said Spencer Lamb, chief commercial officer for Kao, regarding the acquisition.
Kenwood Park is a brownfield, 10-acre site with a 160,100 sq ft warehouse. JLL represented Kao Data on the deal, which was for an undisclosed amount. DHRE advised vendor Mercia Real Estate.
Kao’s plans for Kenwood Park represent an investment of £350m, according to the developer. When Kao completes its work on the site, there will be nine data halls capable of acting as an infrastructure hub for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence.
Kao is aiming to open the facility in late 2025. The developer’s plans call for the data centre to be fully powered by renewable energy, to use hydrotreated vegetable oil in its generators, and to incorporate heat re-use technology.
Lamb said: “We believe our new facility will set a new standard for sustainable data centres within the region and will provide a piece of foundational infrastructure that supports both Northern England’s advanced computing clusters, and the UK Governments’ ambitions to become a technological and economic powerhouse for HPC and AI.”
I can’t see how a data Center of that capacity can be run in “renewable Energy” but good luck to them if they can – let just all remember we are going to need double the amount of over all energy in the next 20 years – all coming from renewables and fossil fuel
By Stuart wood
I would be interested to see what plans they have for access and egress, as traffic congestion in this area is poor now.
By Paul Duffy
Sounds a big power requirement at 40MW, its going to need a lot of vegetable oil !
By Alf Full
You don’t get much traffic at a data centre. A handful of cars every day, that’s about it. Other than the kind running down the internet pipes.
By Anonymous
Does anyone know the Main Contractors for build?
By Anonymous
How will the heat be re-directed?
By Alyson Zuntz