With its innovative expansion in London, Norwegian data center operator Green Mountain has started building a new 14 MW extension at its LON1-East facility in Romford, which is well located close to important market exchanges and London's financial areas. This new data center development in the London colocation market will be carried out in two stages, each including 7 MW.
Nestled inside an existing structure, the addition will provide approximately 5,500 square meters of white space. It is expected that the first phase of the project will be finished by the first quarter of 2025. Notably, plans for an additional 16 MW expansion are already in the works, indicating the campus's potential for development.
This development comes after Infinity Data Centers, now known as LON1-East, was acquired by Green Mountain and rebranded in January 2023. As part of the site's growth, three new data halls totaling 7 MW of IT load are being built, with plans to add three more halls in the future. In addition, Green Mountain would provide a build-to-suit alternative on a nearby plot that has planning approval and secured electricity for customers looking for scalability.
The location of LON1-East would provide a perfect location for financial services, being less than 10 miles from Docklands and the City of London, and equidistant between the data centers of the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. The east London location makes it possible to create an availability zone with Dagenham and Harlow's other colocation data centers. With over ten distinct fiber suppliers and access to key fiber routes, it would offer full-scale low-latency connectivity solutions.
2N Electrical Distribution, PUE: 1.2
The site's attractiveness would further be increased by its close proximity to important transportation hubs, such as Heathrow Airport and the Elizabeth line, which offers direct access to central London districts.
An important component of this growth is Green Mountain's dedication to sustainability. With this new development, the company - which is renowned for its environmentally friendly operations - hopes to advance toward carbon neutrality. The site intends to achieve an annualized, energy efficient Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.2 and will be powered by certified renewable energy. Moreover, up to 90% less CO2 will be released into the atmosphere because to the backup power generators' use of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) fuel.
Managing Director for Green Mountain in the UK, Simon Blackburn, was excited about the growth. He emphasized the site's distinct setting, knowledgeable staff, and the potential it presents to clients looking for quick access to London and low latency connection. “Ready to meet the ever-increasing needs of the digital world, the LON1-East campus is a powerful contender in the data center market, with the potential to expand to 30 MW, including build-to-suit options.”
Key technical facts about the LON1-East expansion include the following:
- First phase Ready for Service - Q1 2025
- Capacity: 14 MW (7MW followed by a further 7 MW)
- Three data halls (followed by a further three data halls)
- Total data hall space: 2773 sqm (followed by a further 2773 sqm)
- Concurrently maintainable infrastructure
- N+1 standby generators
- IT UPS Distributed Redundancy
- 2N Electrical distribution
- Chilled water cooling using centralised Adiabatic Coolers and Water-Cooled Chillers (N+1 redundancy)
- Expansion options: + 16 MW build-to-suit
