Why SEGRO is Developing Two Data Centres in West London
SEGRO is advancing two data centre developments in West London, which strengthens its presence in one of Europe’s most established digital infrastructure locations.
One of these data centre developments is being developed with Pure Data Centres Group – SEGRO's first ever fully fitted data centre – built on SEGRO Premier Park in Park Royal, West London.
The announcement of its construction was made last March, but the most recent update by SEGRO is that it now has full planning permissions to go ahead with its project.
The second data centre agreement is for a powered shell facility at the Slough Trading Estate, which is Europe's largest hub of data centres.
When SEGRO and Pure Data Centres announced the construction of its first fully fitted data centre, Dame Dawn Childs, CEO of Pure DC, commented on the significance of the location.
“With over 500MW of data capacity in development or operation, Pure DC brings deep expertise building data centres and working alongside hyperscalers," she said.
“SEGRO Park Premier Road, Park Royal is one of London’s most sought-after data centre locations and will help support the UK’s ambitions for digitalisation.”
Park Royal data centre plan
Planning committee approval, which has just been given to the company, has allowed SEGRO to develop its first fully fitted data centre in partnership with Pure Data Centres Group, worth approximately £1bn (US$1.3bn).
The project includes 70MVA of incoming power, a level which is essential for high-density computing equipment used in modern data centre environments.
Power availability remains one of the key requirements for operators as cloud services and AI workloads are expanding.
SEGRO says that the development is designed with sustainability and operational efficiency in mind as the building incorporates closed-loop liquid cooling – a method which circulates coolant through a sealed system to remove heat from servers while reducing water consumption.
This cooling approach essentially helps limit evaporative losses and supports more efficient thermal management compared with conventional air-cooled systems, making it more sustainable.
Energy efficiency is also a significant part of the facility’s design, which reflects the sector’s focus on lowering operational energy use while supporting growing computing demand.
The joint venture with Pure Data Centres Group is combining SEGRO’s land and development capabilities with Pure DC's operational expertise in delivering and running hyperscale and enterprise data centre facilities.
Andrew Pilsworth, Managing Director of Data Centres and Strategic Partnerships at SEGRO, says: “These two announcements demonstrate further progress in our strategy to execute on the 2.5GW+ opportunity in our powered land bank.
“The critical mass of data centres we have built up at Slough over the last 20 years, together with the Simplified Planning Zone status we have secured there were integral to enabling us to work with an existing customer to expand its campus, while allowing SEGRO to profitably utilise a relatively small 3.5 acre plot.
“Securing planning committee approval at Premier Park is also an important milestone for both our Pure JV at the site and, more broadly, in the evolution of SEGRO’s fully fitted data centre development strategy.”
Expansion at Slough Trading Estate
SEGRO is progressing a separate data centre project on the Slough Trading Estate.
The company has signed an agreement to develop a powered shell building for an existing customer within the estate, which is widely regarded as Europe’s largest hub for data centres.
The completed structure will deliver 30,000m² of data centre space.
The design includes three floors of data halls along with a roof-level plant deck for cooling and power infrastructure.
Planning permission is already in place through the Slough Trading Estate Simplified Planning Zone, which intends to streamline development in the area.
The arrangement allows for certain projects to move forward more efficiently, which is valuable in a sector where deployment speed and power access are essential.
The agreement provides for 50MVA of electrical capacity once the facility becomes fully operational.
Under the arrangement, the customer contracts this power supply directly.
Strategy for powered land
SEGRO positions both developments within its broader strategy to use land with access to power for data centre growth.
Overall, it will provide 2.5GW of potential capacity across its powered land bank.
Slough could be described as a digital infrastructure central, with the estate having hosted data centre developments for around two decades and having benefits from fibre connectivity and power infrastructure.
SEGRO continues to expand the range of data centre environments it can deliver for operators seeking space in West London by combining fully fitted facilities such as the Park Royal project with powered shell developments in Slough.
