Exclusive: Google buys land for potential UK data centre
Google has purchased a plot of land north of London which could house the Silicon Valley giant’s first data centre in the United Kingdom.
The firm’s data centres house thousands of servers and drives, and provide the infrastructure for Google’s services across the world.
City PM understands that the plot, in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, would comfortably accommodate a data plant. No other Google infrastructure would require a site as large.
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The firm has just seven of the processing sites outside the United States, including five in Europe.
A 2016 Oxford Economics report into the firm’s then-six data centres in the US suggested the centres were responsible for as many as 11,000 jobs.
The firm has committed to ensure all their sites, which require large amounts of power for cooling and to maintain ambient temperatures, are powered by renewable energy.
A Google spokesperson told City PM: “We have acquired a 33 acre property North of London for potential data centre development.
“While we do not have a confirmed timeline for development for the site, we want to ensure that we have the option to further grow, should our business demand it. We don’t expect to take any decision on this in the near future.”