Plans in for data hall at Oxford’s Harwell Campus

The Science & Technology Funding Council has lodged proposals to develop a research computer centre at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, south of Oxford. The 35,284 sq ft facility will sit on a six-acre site and comprise offices, breakout space, viewing point, a loading bay with storage, mechanical plant rooms, electrical plant rooms, battery rooms, network and telephony rooms, a suite of IT test rooms and the main data hall. It is expected to provide a capacity of 150 racks and a 6.6MW IT load. The scheme, designed by Stride Treglown, is targeting BREEAM Excellent certification and is scheduled to be fully complete and handed over to the council by 2028. As well as being a research facility for Harwell Campus, the data hall would also serve the local community by providing the opportunity for visitors to see and learn about the work being undertaken in the building. Harwell Campus houses more than £1bn of science infrastructure. In 2020, Brookfield Asset Management secured a 50% share in the campus, which was later transferred to its spin-off platform Advanced Research Clusters. Carter Jonas is advising on planning. Image © Stride Treglown