London leads EMEA’s data centre market growth
The operational capacity of EMEA’s data centre markets has continued to grow across the EMEA region, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Across 24 EMEA markets, there is currently 9.3GW of operational capacity, up 6.6% on the prior year, with about 256MW of new supply added in the first half of 2024.
There is also 2.6GW under construction across the region and 8GW in planning, marking an overall pipeline growth of 1GW, a 10.5% increase since the second quarter of 2023.
The operational capacity of EMEA’s data centre markets has continued to grow across the EMEA region, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
Across 24 EMEA markets, there is currently 9.3GW of operational capacity, up 6.6% on the prior year, with about 256MW of new supply added in the first half of 2024.
There is also 2.6GW under construction across the region and 8GW in planning, marking an overall pipeline growth of 1GW, a 10.5% increase since the second quarter of 2023.
The move comes amid strong demand from major cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Oracle Cloud, which continue to expand their presence in EMEA, driving increased construction of hyperscale data centres.
In addition, co-location services, where businesses lease space within a data centre rather than building their own, are on the rise, mainly driven by data centre investors leasing shell and core facilities to hyperscale operators.
Despite the growth, Cushman found that all primary markets within the EMEA region are encountering challenges, including limited land availability, power constraints and increasingly strict sustainability regulations, which have substantial cost and time implications for operators and investors.
Among all featured EMEA markets, London has been named as the top market with 1,062MW operational capacity, broadly flat on 2023, but with a pipeline of 1,209MW representing a 29% jump year-on-year.
However, power availability in the city’s Western Corridor is a major concern, with substantial power network upgrades not scheduled until the 2030s and nimby resistance to additional data centre builds.
In addition, the scarcity of land and power in London has pushed new developments into outer zones and the M25 corridor.
Looking ahead, the revised National Planning Policy Framework has signalled aid for the UK data centre industry by supporting development and tackling previous barriers. It encourages local authorities to consider data centres’ specific needs, easing approval processes.
The 24 EMEA markets featured in the report include London, Frankfurt, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Madrid, Stockholm, Berlin, Abu Dhabi, Johannesburg, Warsaw, Dubai, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Zurich, Vienna, Munich, Istanbul, Helsinki, Zaragoza, Lisbon, Athens and Oslo.
Image © İsmail Enes Ayhan/Unsplash
