Plans have been lodged for a significant new knowledge centre growth in Hemel Hempstead, as Amazon appears to be like to additional broaden its digital infrastructure footprint outdoors London.
The proposal is for a purpose-built knowledge centre constructing with roof-level plant, alongside an emergency generator compound, a safety constructing and new inner entry roads. If absolutely developed, the positioning knowledge centre may have an estimated footprint of 20,840 sqft, or 1,935 sqm.
Whereas Amazon has previously committed to spending £8 billion on data centres in the UK, this newest proposal is notable due to how it’s being positioned. That’s as a result of because the trade chases AI-ready knowledge centres that eat plenty of energy and water, Amazon is intending to make use of its Hemel Hempstead web site for long-term knowledge storage utilizing tape media. That ought to imply its thirst for native utilities ought to be a lot decrease.
That distinction might matter regionally. Information centres typically draw scrutiny over electrical energy demand, generator testing regimes, and plant noise – notably the place schemes embody substantial rooftop gear and standby era. The demand for electrical energy is without doubt one of the key issues that just lately sank a deliberate knowledge centre in Edinburgh, with locals extra cautious in regards to the affect knowledge centres have on them than ever earlier than.
Amazon is making an attempt to get in entrance of any issues the local people might have with regards to the information centre’s affect. The plans name for a chilled-water cooling system, counting on free-cooling for almost all of the 12 months, whereas the positioning’s backup turbines will likely be powered utilizing HVO. Moreover, an 8.55kW photo voltaic system is deliberate on the positioning – though even with the decrease power calls for of a tape storage facility, that’s unlikely to energy the whole web site.
The planning software with Dacorum Borough Council is about to enter session subsequent month, with a choice more likely to be made later this 12 months. Amazon can be ready on one other council to determine whether or not it will get to proceed with its proposals for a knowledge centre on the former Didcot A Energy Station web site in Oxfordshire. That software must also be determined later this 12 months.
