Upon completion, the campus will be the largest in the area with a total IT load of 40.5MW.
Andrew Peisch, director at KKR said: “We are pleased to partner with GTR in developing our first UK data center campus. We welcome this opportunity to play a role in supporting the UK as it continues to upgrade its digital infrastructure to meet the evolving needs of the digital economy. At a time when longer term sustainability in data center development is a critical consideration, sophisticated design plays an increasingly important role and we have every confidence that the GTR team is well positioned to deliver.”
Its GTR’s first investment in the UK since the company was launched last year by KKR and serial data centre entrepreneur Franek Sodzawiczny, who previously founded Zenium Data Centers, then acquired by Equinix and CyrusOne Inc.
GTR was launched to design, build and operate bespoke data centres across Europe for large technology clients, meeting the growing demand for third-party provision. Across Europe it has a further 94MW under development across Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets and expects to open its first data centre in Latin America next year. A further location, in the Middle East, is also planned.
In Europe, GTR also has a further capacity of 94MW of power under development across further Tier 1 and Tier 2 markets and expects to open its first data center in Latin America next year, with another location in the Middle East also planned. KKR’s original investment in GTR was made primarily from its third global infrastructure fund.
“We are excited to be back in the UK alongside our partner KKR and look forward to working closely with SEGRO to deliver this state-of-the-art data centre campus,” said Sodzawiczny. “The data centre sector moves at an impressive pace. GTR brings both the technical expertise and industry experience to manage the design and build phase of this project seamlessly to meet clear customer demand for bespoke capability.”
The new Slough campus will be delivered in two phases and is expected to be fully operational in Q4 of next year. The campus is located in the UK’s premier data centre and communications hub, home to 90% of current London data centre demand.
The site will comprise of three independent data centres capable of operating individually, or as one interlinked campus, designed and developed by SEGRO to GTR’s specifications. Each building will accommodate more than 5,375sqm of net technical area and 13.5 MW IT load.
It is expected the project will create 200 jobs during construction, plus a further 80 permanent roles on completion.
