Tritax Big Box REIT plc has purchased a 74-acre site at Heathrow, London within the Slough Availability Zone, a site it deems as a key FLAP-D prime EMEA data centre location (Manor Farm).
Subject to receiving planning consent, the acquisition of the land and stake in the JV facilitates an accelerated timeline to the potential delivery of up to 147MW of power to support the development of a major data centre scheme at Manor Farm.
The site has the potential for an initial data centre of 107MW (Phase 1) on land currently used for open industrial storage, targeting commencement of construction in H1 2026.
Phase 1 of the construction is expected to total 448,000ft² of data halls across three floors.
Indicative capex costs of approximately £365m are inclusive of land, construction, JV stake acquisition, transaction costs and fees, and the Company’s 50% share of the power related infrastructure costs.
The company expects to fund this project through a combination of existing financial resources and its ongoing capital recycling programme.
Chairman of Tritax Big Box Aubrey Adams said: “This is a decisive and exciting first step for the company in the very attractive data centre market which the Manager has unlocked with its power and real estate capabilities.
“This gives the company a considerable competitive advantage in capturing the growing demand for data centre infrastructure.
“The combination of Manor Farm’s prime London location and accelerated access to critical grid connection agreements creates the opportunity to develop quickly one of the UK’s largest data centres and deliver exceptional returns for our shareholders.”
