Union Park – a new London Data Centre by Ark Data Centres, 5th March 2020
Hayes, London – Bull’s Bridge
At Ark, we are proud to unveil plans for Union Park: a new data centre on the Bulls Bridge Industrial Estate in Hayes. This comes in response to the growing demand for data centres as consumers, business and the public sector become increasingly reliant on the digital economy.
At the forefront of the plans is a commitment to use the latest sustainable technology and invest significantly in ecological improvements to deliver a scheme which responds to the priorities of Hillingdon Council and its residents.
Our approach to sustainability will include onsite solar generation, air cooling for the IT equipment, rainwater harvesting to minimise water taken from the mains, a “living” roof and walls, and electric car charging points will minimise the environmental impact of the facility, minimise the carbon footprint of the proposals and help drive towards the government goal of a zero-carbon economy by 2030. Further investment will be made to improve walking and cycling along the Grand Union Canal towpath to make it safer and more accessible to all users.
Ark will continue its proven policy of procuring 100 per cent renewable sources of power from the National Grid to provide the main power source to the data centre. Backup power in the event of a mains power failure will be provided by diesel backup generators operating on HVO fuel, providing a reduction on air emissions of up to 90%. HVO is a premium quality fuel that can be used as a direct drop in replacement for diesel, is certified as sourced from 100% renewable raw materials, and doesn’t release any new carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
The plans for Union Park represent an investment in excess of £600 million and include a new data centre campus of some 56,000m2, a dedicated substation and ancillary office space. Part of the site benefits from existing planning permission for distribution uses where the former British Airways building was located and includes the vacant RMC building.
Huw Owen, Chief Executive Officer of Ark Data Centres said:
“In order to keep up with the pace of digital change, the UK needs to build more data centres to support rapid data growth. Our proposals for Union Park represent a response to significant interest from existing public and private sector clients regarding their data needs.
“We pride ourselves on our commitment to develop sustainable data centres which ensure our customers can achieve substantial savings in terms of cost, as shown by the £1+ billion savings achieved for UK Government through the Crown Hosting Framework, while also reducing their own carbon footprint.”