King Sturge in £16.2m acquisition of what will be UK's largest data center

King Sturge has advised European data center development specialist e-shelter on their purchase of a 25-acre brownfield site near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The former factory premises have been acquired from Molins PLC, the tobacco machinery manufacturer, for £16.2 million.

The site located in Saunderton has been purchased through a joint venture between e-shelter and the PFB Data Centre Fund, a private investor fund managed by Pinder Fry & Benjamin. King Sturge was also responsible for introducing the joint venture partner. Wilks Head & Eve acted for the vendor, Molins PLC.

e-shelter proposes to develop the UK’s largest data center campus providing a gross area of 77,000 m², second only in Europe to e-shelter’s existing facility in Frankfurt. Scottish & Southern Energy will deliver 120 MW of power when fully operational. The new campus will be built over four phases; the first
stage of development is scheduled to be completed by mid-2010.

For e-shelter’s entry into the UK market, King Sturge was retained to source a suitable brownfield site in the South East. Having identified the Molins factory, King Sturge was subsequently retained to negotiate planning permission for a data centre facility. The application was particularly complex due to the site lying within the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the Metropolitan Green Belt. Following extensive public consultation, Wycombe District Council voted unanimously to uphold the case officer’s recommendation to approve the application, recognising the sustainable measures incorporated in the design and the improvements it would make to the surrounding area.

source: King Sturge