One of the nation’s largest data centres is currently under construction in Harlow, Essex, to advance future research discoveries and innovative breakthroughs in the UK’s life sciences sector.
The 344,000 sqf Kao DATA data centre is situated on a 15-acre campus divided across four freestanding buildings.
Kao DATA said that the first data centre modules will be on stream by Q3 2016. The DC1 will be 36,200 sqf with a technical power of 6,600kW and 1,620 racks.
The data centre is part of a larger project that covers a total of 35 acres of land and will also be part of a Business Park. The company claims the site to be the largest facility of its kind outside the US.
Known as Kao Park, the site will also have two office buildings which combined boasts 215,000 sqf.
Kao One office building will be ready for occupation in Q3 next year. The Kao Two office building and further data centre modules will be delivered through 2017.
Located in the London-Cambridge-Stanstead corridor, Kao Park will be the first part of the Harlow Enterprise Zone to be delivered. When fully developed, it will represent an investment in the region of £200m in the 35-acre site, according to Kao DATA.
Mark Trevor, senior director at Cushman & Wakefield, said: "We believe this model – which is a first for the UK – can create a genuinely innovative and virtuous ecosystem of tenants which will spawn research breakthroughs."
Trevor said that there is huge potential for the Life Sciences sector to benefit from convergent technologies and this process will be supported and accelerated by this new campus with an on-site data centre at its heart.
He said: "The connectivity, both from a physical and virtual perspective, that this site offers is unmatched and we expect to attract significant interest from both global occupiers and smaller organisations who want to benefit from this scalable and flexible site."
The park was named Kao in memory of Charles Kao, who discovered the fibre optic cable in 1966.
