Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS), a global provider of hyperscale and large enterprise data centre solutions, has reportedly received final planning permission from the local council for a significant expansion to its existing data center campus at Hayes, West London.
Readers would recall that Colt DCS had first announced its expansion plans in April 2024, revealing that it had acquired land, and was planning to build one of UK’s largest data center campuses in Hayes, to support the growing demand for capacity of large scale high density AI workloads.
The project costs £100 million, and involves the construction of three facilities – LON6, LON7 and LON8 – that will transform the Hayes industrial park area into a large data center campus by dividing each development into four phases:
Phase one begins with constructing the smallest data center being a 12 floor facility powered by 20 diesel generators which is expected to start in 2026 and conclude by 2028.
Phase two is creating an ‘innovation hub’ that provides workspaces for new tech start-ups and access for Brunel University community.
The third phase involves building the largest data center facility estimated to be 18 storeys high with 53,000 sqm of floor space.
Phase four is the ultimate stage in which the third data center will be built on the Heathrow Interchange site with 30,000 sqm of floor space.
The new facilities are designed to support the growing demand for large-scale, high-density AI workloads and the ongoing mass public cloud deployment by UK businesses. The new campus underscores the intense demand for IT capacity in the West London submarket, a key European hub for financial, media, and business operations.
West London remains a key development location for data centres spurred due to the mass public cloud deployment by UK businesses and a prominent submarket in Europe. London is one of the world’s leading financial, media and business hubs and remains a major attraction for companies looking to expand in the UK and Western Europe.
The new sites will secure their primary power from renewable energy sources. The on-site 73 diesel generators are installed purely to provide emergency backup power to ensure continuous operation, a standard requirement for mission-critical facilities.
Currently, Colt DCS operates two other London facilities: London North (35MW) and London West (9.4MW). Furthermore, the initial phase of the existing London Hayes site is progressing, with 60MW of IT power expected to be complete in Q3 2025.
In related expansion news, the London 4 hyperscale data center is set to become operational in 2025, and construction on the London 5 facility is expected to begin shortly thereafter.